Empty Chest
by Team Dragon Star
Summary: In today's virtual-driven world, the threat of online death is treated as no more than a nuisance, a break from action until the game reloads to the last save point. But if characters are no longer avatars, if death is no longer temporary, do the rules of virtual reality still apply? And most importantly, should they?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: We do not own Sword Art Online.**

**...**

Avatar name: RAYNOR

Email: SAOalt415

Password: IronCurtain12

The screen remained blank after the correct information had been input, the pulsing black screen and the low hum of the game's startup scene was causing him to involuntarily shudder at the prospect of finally being able to play Sword Art Online. He had been awaiting the game's release for months, trawling the web for information on it, looking for any in-game streams, but there had been nothing but a date and a time given out. A minute past midnight on the 6th of November, 2022, the game would go live and become available for limited purchase - of the ten thousand copies of the game available only a thousand had been released internationally. Just over a hundred to each continent to be given away as tournament prizes, not as a random prize to a lucky few, but as prizes to rightful victors, and he had been one of them. The NervGear's screen flashed back to life as the introduction to the game began to play.

A warrior on horseback overlooking an open field while a castle of machinery - not stone - floated high above in the sky, the words 'Sword Art Online' emblazoned across a blue sky's backdrop. The screen again faded to black as a loading bar made its way across the screen. As it reached its end, a small light flitted about the screen.

"Welcome to Sword Art Online, RAYNOR. As this is your first time entering the game you need to be initialised," said the floating light flashing a different colour to indicate when it was or wasn't speaking.

"First a biometric scan of your body is required so that you can be fully immersed within the game and play with greater ease. Please remain still while the NervGear calculates you," blinked the floating light.

A motor could be heard whirring next to his ear while the NervGear took the scan. The NervGear had been an innovation in gaming; no longer would controllers or sub-standard motion controls impair a gamer's experience. The helmet worked by using microwave transmitters to input a user's commands into their game by means of the biometric scan that was taken at the start of each new game session.

"Initialisation complete, RAYNOR, now select your avatar. Be warned this cannot be changed once saved," blinked the light for the last time as it shattered into pieces before him.

A dozen or more presets loaded up before him, but he knew straight away that he wanted to stand out in this online world, so he chose to have a custom avatar. Flicking through the options before him, he slowly created his online persona, going through menu upon menu until finally the summary screen was before him.

Gender: Male

Race: Caucasian

Height setting: Tall

Build: Athletic

Language setting: English

He slowly looked down through the list to make sure that nothing had been missed, and then selected 'Confirm' at the bottom of the screen. As one of the select few who had been able to purchase one of few copies outside of Japan, Raynor thought he would have difficulty understanding other players who spoke in Japanese. Thankfully the creator had put that into consideration when distributing a thousand copies of his game to every corner on the globe. While there would always be a slight delay, the NervGear that held his head in place would be able to transmit what he was saying and translate it for every playable character nearby to their local language and vice versa. It truly showed just how far technology had come.

Instead of the screen going dark again, the menu started to dissolve away as a beam of light approached him. In this moment he became Raynor. For the next few hours he would no longer be another pen-pusher but a hero in his own world. As the beam grew he could hear the wind rustle and feel the warmth of the sun on his skin. Opening his eyes Raynor found himself on his back looking up at a summer sky. Pulling himself up to a seated position, Raynor met the gaze of an aging farmer.

"Good day to you, traveller, and welcome to Aincrad," said the figure before him._ 'Great. Dumb NPCs.'_

_"_Morning," uttered Raynor as he rose to his feet, brushing off the dirt from his clothes.

"Now you don't look like much of a farmhand. No far too pale. A merchant maybe. No too big for a merchant. Ox breeder, yes the right size but I've never met one that comes armed like that," said the farmer, motioning towards the hammer across his back. One of the options that Raynor had chosen was to go for the hammer as opposed to the sword, for the sole reason that he knew nearly every other character on the server would carry a sword of some kind.

As the NPC continued his monologue, Raynor paid it no attention as he looked over his character's design. Despite giving very broad depictions during the opening screen, his character was quite defined in its own right, and as he flexed his right arm, he was pleased to see that the bicep muscle became more tensed as if he was out in the real world. White skin covered his body as if he had come from somewhere in Northern Europe and he couldn't help but wonder if his character would get some sort of a tan if he stayed in the sun for extended periods of time.

There was no way that he wanted to be this white for the entirety of the game.

With the NPC continuously droning on about rules and regulations, Raynor turned his attention to the details in the surrounding city that he had started in. Columns made of granite towered high above the rooftops, a symbol for something that Raynor couldn't quite put his finger on. On the lower levels he could see that many other characters were getting introduced to the game's mechanics but like him couldn't be arsed with listening to an NPC drag on and on about something they would likely pick up in their own time.

Raynor wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing, but with a shrug of the shoulders he figured that time would tell, and as the NPC concluded his speech, Raynor raced forward with determined eyes, waiting to see what this world had in store for him.

...

Putting his full force behind it, Raynor swung his hammer at the cockroach's head once more as its health-bar finally reached zero and the beast exploded into shards. Raynor was starting to get used to using his weapon in the game, even against these creatures which were the size of an average house-dog. In essence, all he had to do was think that he wanted to swing at the creature and it happened. Everything in this game felt so real to him. The slight ache in his shoulder from felling number after number of enlarged roaches, the welt on his arm where one had flung itself at him and latched onto his shoulder before he could swat it away. Raynor even found himself gasping for breath a little, even though his online body didn't require air.

_'Going to have to put some points into that Endurance stat,'_ thought Raynor, smiling to himself. With this being a tutorial quest, he had only managed to fill a measly half bar of experience from dealing with the roaches. As beneficial as it had been, Raynor couldn't quite stop thinking how far ahead all the other players who skipped the tutorial must be . He was broken out of his thoughts by being clamped on the shoulder by a firm hand.

"Ha, a fine job lad. I don't think those roaches will be back to bother us for quite some time," chuckled the farmer. In the middle of the City of Beginnings Raynor had managed to find a NPC who had been looking for somebody to help him clean out the insect infestation in his barn. While it wasn't the most exciting job imaginable it was as good a start as any. "Now for your reward. No, not gold. What little we have we would like to keep hold of but food is a plenty in our home, and well, take as much as you need," finished the farmer as the summary screen appeared in front of his face, showing Raynor's reward. Three pots of rabbit stew, an assortment of cooking ingredients, and some EXP. Pressing the tick at the bottom of the summary, Raynor was surprised by another screen popping up.

**'Congratulations you have levelled up!**' it said, showing an assortment of stats improving by a preset number. Flicking downwards in front of himself, Raynor checked his stats and then allocated that promised point into his endurance section. With little else to do in the tutorial area, Raynor made his way towards what looked like an average-sized town. Although his route was spotted with enemies, Raynor had no issue dispatching them. Why would he? If he was killed before he had even made it to the first town, then he was never going to get very far into the game. By the time he had made it into the town, he had already levelled again and had pocketed what must have been a pitiful amount of col, but to Raynor it was his fortune.

Perusing some of the stalls, Raynor thought it was best to spend a good chunk of his money on acquiring a new shield to go alongside his hammer. It wasn't anything special, but a wooden buckler would give him something to work with in regards to his off hand. He spent the remainder of his Col on health potions as the food from the simple quest was enough to sustain him for the mean time. Raynor had just finished his shopping when the large bell in the middle of the town started to chime and he was enveloped in light. Not knowing what was happening, Raynor shielded his eyes before realising that he had just been teleported and not been set upon by God.

Raynor had indeed been teleported to the centre of the town as had everyone else in the game, by the looks of it. Flashes of light from players being teleported lit up the square as others players muttered amongst themselves and looked on confused, wondering what it was that just happened. The light seemed to dim out but the bell still rang for another minute, and just as it stopped ringing a message appeared in the sky.

'**Remain calm. Game master announcement,**' said the message as it blinked in the evening sun's dying glow. As the sun dipped below the horizon, the sky turned a haunting scarlet as the clouds seemed to start bleeding. Dripping from the sky, the torrents of blood started to converge into a point in the sky as the game master made his dramatic entrance.

"Hello, I am Kyaba Akihiko."

For the next few minutes the avatar of the game's creator shocked everyone within his game: they were now all trapped. Death in the game meant death for real, and any interference from the outside world would fry your brain, but in a twisted sense, he had made the game fair. All that was required for the game to end was to complete all 100 floors and their bosses, and then freedom was yours.

"Now before I go, I have a gift for all my loyal players," said the spectre.

Looking through his inventory Raynor could find only one item: 'mirror'. Tapping on it, a mirror floated in front of Raynor's face and blinded him with a flash of light. Squinting through his still-aching eyes, Raynor was overcome by shock. He was looking back at himself, his actual face was staring back at him. Looking down his entire body had become his own, he had become a few inches shorter and his muscles weren't as defined, but it was nothing compared to the shock of some other players.

"100 floors, and good luck," said the spectre before exploding in a shower of pixels.

The gravity of the situation had only just sunk in for some players. Some had dropped to their knees in anguish. Others had begun begging to their respective gods for some sort of release. Only a few remained on their feet, a thousand yard stare locked in their eyes. Knowing that nothing good could come from sinking into despair, Raynor checked his inventory and made his way to the quickest exit from the town.

...

Razamataz made his way away from the mass hysteria that was abuzz in the streets. Did he have questions? Of course he did! But were they going to be answered? Highly unlikely. Nobody could have the answers at this stage, and it was fruitless believing that any answer he was given was going to be the correct one.

Raz ran his fingers through his hair as he made his way past the edge of the crowd, reminding himself that this was indeed his hair and not the hair of the avatar he had created. He had prefered the avatar, to be quite honest, having spent a good deal of time making sure that the character had all of the little knicks and quirks that he liked when creating one in these games. Now, though, he was stuck with the same hazel eyes and unruly brown hair that he saw from day to day in the real world. Even his freckles had seemed to be brought over, lining up across his arms like shaded places in a desert.

Instead of his avatar, he was now himself, just shy of six foot with a slender frame that wasn't properly looked after and skin which would burn if left out in the sun too long despite not being completely white. It was safe to say Razamataz had already died and left the virtual world.

Taylor now stood in Raz's place.

"What to do, what to do?" mused Taylor as he made his way through the streets which had been filled only minutes earlier. While he had wanted to spend hours in this game, lost in time and away from the thoughts of the outside world, this was just a little beyond ridiculous. If what the creator had said - Taylor having already forgotten the guy's name - then he was trapped in here until all one hundred levels were cleared. While he did consider himself somewhat good in the video game department, he was nowhere near good enough to complete a game solo, let alone without dying a single time.

That was the scary thing, death. Quite possibly it could all be one giant hoax, and when he died only then would he be freed from this virtual prison, but by no means was Taylor keen to find out. Grinding on lower enemies for now would probably be the best idea, making sure that there was no real threat to his life, but that was only a temporary solution. Three or four levels would have to be it before he started making his way up the ranks.

Having been able to read the manual on the bus home from work, Taylor knew that the higher levels wouldn't be available until at least one person had defeated the boss for the floor and gone through. With that in mind, he knew that he wasn't going to be the one to jump straight into the dragon's mouth and tackle a stage boss; he wasn't suicidal by any means.

Turning a corner he found himself no longer the sole person along the desolate streets. His pace didn't waver, however, until the person lifted a hand, signalling Taylor to come closer. With a sigh escaping his lips, Taylor changed his course to where the man stood knowing that being rude at this point in time probably wasn't the best idea.

"How's it going?" he said casually as if this was an everyday occurrence.

"How's it going?" repeated Raynor. "We just get told that we will potentially die in a virtual world, and you ask how's it going? Shouldn't you be panicking just that little bit more?"

"It seemed like a good enough question at the time," said Taylor with a shrug of the shoulders.

"I guess," said Raynor sheepishly. "Considering most people are still going on about how this was the end of the world, I have to say I'm not doing too badly. I've actually come to terms with it really quickly."

"I wouldn't say that I've come to terms with it as such, but I'm not really willing to put my life on the line to find out," said Taylor as he rubbed the back of his head, his hair shaking back and forth as he did so.

"True that," said Raynor with a light chuckle before extending his hand. "Raynor."

"Taylor," he said as he gripped the outstretched appendage. "So what's the plan?"

"No plan yet," said Raynor. "I guess once everybody's calmed down a bit I'll see what the general plan is with everyone. Someone has to take charge, but it sure as hell isn't going to be me, at least not yet. Considering most the people in here aren't like us we should probably team up at some point."

"People like us?"

"Well it's clear that you managed to get your hands on one of the few copies of the game outside of Asia like I did. Only makes sense that I find a partner with somebody who isn't going to treat me like a complete foreigner."

"Please, you wouldn't even be able to tell what country I'm from," said Taylor putting a hand on his hip as if asking Raynor to guess just where abouts he was from. For several seconds Raynor did try to figure out just where Taylor was from, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't put his finger on it. While the skin tone and the freckles could suggest that the man was English, the accent was nothing like he had heard through film or television. Before he could ponder on the question any longer Taylor spoke up.

"Have fun watching the people try and organise themselves. Tell me how it goes," said Taylor as he patted Raynor on the shoulder as he started walking once again.

"What, you not gonna come and watch?" asked Raynor at the retreating form of his newfound friend.

"I could say something, but my voice won't be heard," said Taylor over his shoulder. "Stay alive and we'll catch up at some stage for a drink."

"Stay alive?" repeated Raynor, chuckling slightly at how dark the phrase was, but at the same time knowing full well just how serious it was. As Taylor vanished from sight, Raynor decided that he had had enough time sitting on the outskirts and made his way inwards towards the centre of town once again to see if anything new had developed.

Either way he knew it was going to be interesting.

...

Kaka was by no means a happy person. He hadn't even really wanted to get the game that desperately, rather a copy fell into his hands as a gift from an affluent family friend, and despite the breathtaking virtual world that surrounded him, he couldn't look past what each participant had been told mere minutes before. They were all stuck in the game until the very end and there was no escape. It was sickening, almost unfathomable, to think that they were trapped in this strange reality like a mouse in a corner.

He had contemplated the idea of taking his own life, just to see if the guy had been bullshitting about it meaning certain death, but quickly chickened out of the idea. The risk was far too great, and Kaka had never been too eager to rush into these kinds of situations. He didn't like what he'd heard from the game's creator, but he couldn't deny that it sounded possible. Being trapped in this extremely life-like virtual world was probably a fate better than death, although it did mean leaving his life in the real world behind him until such a time where he managed to get out.

The friends that he'd had, the family he often argued with… they'd all have to be put on the back burner for the moment.

The blond-turned-black-haired adolescent sighed to himself as he looked around. A couple of his friends had been hoping to get the game but copies were so hard to come across - especially in foreign countries - that none had managed to get their hands on it. In short, he knew none of the nine thousand and something players that surrounded him. And for some reason, making friends too soon didn't sound like the greatest of ideas at the moment; he was the real foreigner here, and he did not know who he could trust.

He wanted to get out and survive. Make sure that he wasn't defenceless, that he wouldn't have to rely on anyone, and his best shot at that was to make a break for it towards the nearest town. From there he would work up his skills, the most important one at the moment being cooking. If he was going to die in the game it certainly wouldn't be from starvation. Kaka felt that once he had that covered, he'd be able to work up his combat skills. In all the prior RPGs that he'd played, Kaka had stuck to the mage classes, so the boy felt a little bummed out to find that no such class existed in Sword Art Online.

Glancing around, he noticed a big crowd making its way away from the center of the village. He hesitated for a second before sharply turning and heading in the opposite direction of the crowd; the last thing he needed was to be around people. Though strength in numbers was never a bad thing, Kaka couldn't help but shake the feeling that it wasn't safe to trust people in this virtual world. In the real world if you killed someone, you got locked up for a very long time… over here there was no real way of enforcing that, and he didn't want to stick around long enough to see other people come to the same realisation.

He opened his menu once more in disbelief, attempting to find the non-existent log out button as though it were hidden, but like the numerous efforts made in the past twenty minutes… it was to no avail. It was hard to encourage himself to keep moving towards the edge of the town because he quite honestly just felt like rolling over and dying.

This wasn't what he had signed up for.

...

Taylor swung his glaive horizontally, slicing through the swine he was attacking. Even though out in the real world it would have had enough force to kill this kind of animal in an instant, barely a third of the creature's health was depleted from the blow. Was it frustrating? Yes, but at the same time Taylor knew that it was just the way of a standard role playing game. He needed to level some more - having already leveled twice through the earlier jobs and other slain beasts - and put the skill points he'd earned into Strength and Agility, at least for the first few floors until he needed to focus on Endurance. The way he saw it at the moment, since these smaller enemies did less damage, it was better to simply avoid said damage than take it head on, hence Agility was better than Endurance. Plus Agility would also allow him more attack speed, which in turn would increase the damage output of a longer ranged weapon such as the one he wielded.

As he struck the swine again, Taylor allowed a smile to cross his lips as he recalled what kind of weapon he had been tempted to get. While many would go for the same old sword and shield, he had wanted to go with something different, something that, every time he partied with someone and they saw his weapon, they couldn't help but think 'whoa.' Hence the glaive had been the weapon of choice. Then of course, he had realised that he had no real idea how to wield it, hence why the opening hours of the game had been spent doing simple quests for small amounts of experience while swinging his weapon around like a mad man. By the time his features had changed from his prior avatar, Taylor had gotten a general idea of how to use the weapon, although by no means was he a master.

Still, considering how long it took for somebody to complete the game, he could have become a pro by then.

His musings managed to get the better of him as Taylor attempted a vertical slash upon the boar, but since he was lost in his thoughts he mistimed his attack horribly and was rammed in the chest. Even though he felt the impact and was driven back slightly, there was no 'pain' involved. This, of course, didn't mean that his rage didn't increase as he let go of the glaive with one of his hands before punching the swine on top of the head, a squeal of pain escaping its mouth as it ran in a circle.

"Screw it. Let's try one of these techniques," said Taylor. One of the first missions he had been given, the reward hadn't been experience or Col, but rather a skill that he hadn't yet tried out. Seeing as there was no time like the present, Taylor shifted his stance holding his glaive in his right hand with his arm facing backwards so that the curved edge of the weapon was perpendicular with his body.

His eyes focusing, Taylor let out a roar as he twisted his arm viciously and the blade practically sawed through the head of the pig, causing it to disperse into pixels with its health finally depleted. A sheet appeared where the pig once was, depicting that Taylor had secured himself twenty four experience and thirty Col. While any experience was welcome, he had no real idea just what thirty Col could get him if anything at all. Perhaps it would pay for a night in a tavern or something; that'd be nice.

Since he was going to be here for the foreseeable future, however, Taylor knew that he needed to save his money wisely. Thankfully, he knew that the simple way to do this was to not buy every item that could up his stats ever so slightly, as he knew that whatever he could purchase would likely be dropped by some creature further ahead. Armour was another thing he could go without for a while, and if he came across an artisan of some kind, he would spend some time training up his forging skills so that he could create his own armour as opposed to purchasing it. The bonus to that was he could probably sell some unneeded armour once a proper commodity had been created.

Looking over at the town, he couldn't help but wonder what was going on with communications. While he knew that whatever was decided there would define the world that he would live in, there was no way he wanted to be a part of the discussions. Having gone through university, Taylor had listened to enough people lecture about this, that, and the other. Frankly, so long as it worked, he was fine with it.

Shaking his head, he focused once more on what he would need his money for as he spotted another pig and got to work on the swine. Since there was no magic in the game, he didn't have to worry about things such as mana potions which were practically essential in every other RPG. Skill books, though, would be a necessity, but in a market scenario he would have to be careful about what he purchased as undoubtedly someone would try and rip him off if he didn't know what he was getting into.

Finally there was housing. In most games, the houses were only for those who had nothing better to spend their money on. While many RPG's that he knew of would give you a house as a reward for a mission of some kind, the money necessary to make it something worthwhile to live in was usually too much. Since he was going to be here for the long run, however, it only made sense that he get some proper accommodation as opposed to ensuring he had enough Col in order to pay an innkeeper every night.

Food, rent, bloody hell it was as if Taylor was still stuck out in the real world. Driving his frustrations into the boar's side, the beast moaned before its health bar became depleted and it vanished from sight, once more a page stating what Taylor had earned popped up, although this time there was an added item on the bottom. "Hello, what do we have here?" he mused as he opened up his inventory to have a look at what he had earned. "Boar meat, why am I not surprised?"

A sigh escaped his lips as he closed his inventory before looking around for the next target. Judging by the sun's position in the sky, there was still a few more hours before day would give birth to night, meaning that there was still plenty of time to slaughter the relatively helpless wildlife. Hopefully when he got back to town, not everybody would be in the mass state of panic that he thought they would be.

It was probably wishful thinking.

…

No matter where Kaka seemed to go, there seemed to be some form of party leaving at the same time. It was probably for the best, he supposed, since a small group was more manageable, and he stood a much better chance surrounded by those of his own kind than the wild creatures that undoubtedly lay beyond the town's borders.

In the end, after rejecting several different ones and being too hesitant to approach others, he settled for a group of about fifteen people. They were pretty ordinary, most of them looked like they were in their early twenties - a few years or so older than himself - but there was an almost preteen boy tagging along. It was a shame that the kid probably wouldn't live to see the whole fiasco through.

"So what's the plan?" asked a short woman with red hair. She didn't seem battle-ready, but then again neither did anyone in their little make-do party. Kaka just hoped that they didn't run into too many wild monsters. "I don't know about you lot but I want to make it to the end of tonight with my head still attached to my body."

"A friend of mine was in the beta," said a Japanese man who looked to be in his thirties. He had a good physique and was probably the most muscular of their group, so Kaka knew who he'd be walking beside. "There's a town called Horunka a little while away from here, and he managed to make it there all by himself during the beta days."

"We probably stand a good chance as a group then," said a tall, noticeably caucasian male. He sounded as though he had a British accent but Kaka wasn't quite sure. "Well, we better head out before we lose anymore sunlight."

Kaka couldn't help but agree, the prospect of wandering through the wilderness between towns during the night sounding rather unappealing. "So let's go then."

The group set off, mumbling amongst each other as they left the safe haven that was the Beginning Town. Kaka was surprised at how well the NervGear managed to translate the various different dialects people spoke, of which Japanese was probably the most dominant. Instead of keeping up with the rest of the group, Kaka lagged slightly behind and opted to admire the extreme realism of the game as he watched dust particles fly around his boots because he was dragging his feet. At least this way, if they were to run into any conflict, Kaka would probably the best most well protected.

It wasn't even three minutes later that the group ran into their first hostile encounter: a herd of wild boars, snarling ferociously, were approaching the group. Kaka could smell the panic in the air, and struggled to steady his thoughts as the inexperienced group attempted to handle the situation. The buff Japanese man quickly drew a sword, but he didn't seem to know what he was doing with it as he attempted to fend off the wild boar that continued to approach.

Kaka summoned a sword of his own, clutching it tightly in his hand and prepared to step in, but was quickly distracted by the low growling of a boar kicking the dirt behind him. The boy paled as the creature charged, managing to sidestep half of it before bringing his sword down on the pig. Nothing happened. His health bar had dropped ever so slightly due to the contact that the boar had made with him, but he had not dealt any damage to the creature.

He jumped backwards in shock. He was sure that he had seen someone activate some kind of glowing power in their sword just by swinging it down. In hindsight, it probably hadn't been the greatest of ideas to skip the tutorial.

"Activate a sword skill, you dumbasses!" yelled a voice from the pack, instructing the other clueless fourteen members, but by that stage it was too late.

Five health bars faded to yellow. Three to red. A group of wild boars, of levels that either equalled or exceeded their own, had appeared and were making short work of the group. Kaka's heart began to beat a little faster… This couldn't be the end!

He frantically searched for the voice from before as yet another pack attacked him. This time his health bar dropped past the green section and into the low yellows, the pain feeling far too real for comfort. Ignoring it, he continued his search, letting out a breath that he had been holding as he witnessed one of the sword skills in action. The red-haired girl from before swung her sword down on a pig as the metal momentarily basked itself in an ethereal red colour, making solid contact with it and causing its health to drop to the yellow section.

With a panicked quickness about him, Kaka immediately swung his sword down on an unsuspecting boar and prayed to whatever onlooking deity listening that his attack would work. _'Sword skill, activate!'_

Kaka wasn't sure if it was the command that activated the sword skill or sheer willpower, but he didn't have time to dwell on it as another boar rammed itself into him, leaving what was almost certainly going to be a sore bruise in the morning on his left bicep - provided that bruises and cuts actually manifested in this game and pain simply wasn't an illusion created by his mind.

As he drove his sword through the head of the beast, Kaka heard the scream of one of his comrades before the unmistakable sound of exploding shards of pixels, his eyes going white as he realised one of his companions had just been killed. This was quickly followed by another yell of pain before another life burst out of existence. Kaka looked from side to side at the health bars of all his companions to see that very few had any more than half their health remaining. Grinding his teeth, he shouted the only logical thing he could think of.

"RETREAT!"

…

Beaten and bruised, Raynor returned to the exit of the town of Beginnings. When he had set out for the next town, fifteen other people had had the same idea. Now, as he limped his way back into the town of Beginnings, only six including himself had managed to get away while the other nine had fallen prey to the creatures outside the safety of the walls. Raynor didn't know if it was carelessness or futility that caused them to fling themselves at the creatures. All he knew was that, when each of them dissolved into pixels, it wasn't a simple act of losing and re-spawning. Death now meant death, and if the next chapter in his life meant fighting for it, he was going to make sure he had one last good drink.

Stumbling through the tavern's door, Raynor slumped onto a stool as the innkeeper rose to take his order. Before Raynor could speak, a younger man just as bruised as he was ordered for them. "Two beers and a frigging ice block if you've got it," said the stranger, accepting the transaction and placing the ice on top of his head. "So I see another idiot before me. Name's Kaka." He offered his hand to Raynor, which he shook. "Aye, fifteen morons took a blind charge out of here, not a clue how to play or how to stay alive, but I saw you holding your own and saving a few people's lives. That's something they're probably not even going to thank you for, so I'll do it for them," said Kaka in gratitude for others and for his own skin. "But who exactly am I thanking?"

"Name's Raynor, and if your buddies are the ones I'm thinking of, they dragged that damn imp off me, so I say we're even," said Raynor, taking a swig of his drink. "Ha, it's a small pity, ain't it? Can drink beer but not get drunk. Not only does he trap us all in a death game, the bastard makes us do it sober," chuckled Raynor to himself.

"I think that's only in the restrictions of the town," said a new voice as they took the other side of Raynor. Looking up, the hammer-wielding man was happy to see a familiar face, and one that had managed to stay by his word. "I see you managed to stay alive."

"Barely," chuckled Raynor as he patted Taylor on the back before turning his attention to the barkeep. "Another beer for this one."

"Actually, I'll take a wine," said Taylor, changing the order given.

"Wine, you a pussy or something?"

"No, I just know how to make it is all," said Taylor as his glass was poured to the brim.

"Wait, so what you were saying about the restrictions of the town?" asked Kaka, getting interested by the conversation.

"New friend?" Taylor asked of Raynor.

"Kaka, Taylor. Taylor, Kaka," introduced Raynor. "Bastard here managed to help me slay an imp or three on our escape back from attempting to reach the next town."

"Harsh," said Taylor. "Might just want to do some easy quests and level up for a while before doing anything more stupid."

"That what you been doing the entire time?" asked Raynor.

"Yeah, can manage to one-hit pigs now, so it's as good a start as any. Got pretty boring after the first hour, but I knew that I just had to keep grinding away," said Taylor before sipping at his wine. "They crafted some cheap shit into the game."

"If you want better booze get your friend to pay better coin," said the barkeep as she walked past them.

"Meh, I'll make some for us later, anyways," said Taylor before lifting his glass. "To the fucking virtual world."

"To the fucking virtual world," repeated Raynor and Kaka before all three of them downed their drinks. Needless to say it was going to be a long night.

...

**This chapter was brought to you by DevilsDoCry, Razamataz22, and Kakarot Son.**

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	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: We do not own Sword Art Online.**

…

'_This can't be happening…'_ The small figure pushed her way through the doors to the bar. With her elaborate avatar gone, she felt insignificant. Mousey brown hair fell over her green eyes as she scanned the inside of the tavern.

"Why am I even in here?" Ino mumbled to herself. After the Game Master's announcement, she had wandered the streets aimlessly before heading to the woods for mild quests. Unfortunately, the lack of magic greatly impaired her. Now, she stood at the threshold of some random bar, feeling achy.

"Can I get you anything?" the barmaid asked when the small teen finally took a seat.

She thought for a moment. Since this was still a virtual world, she could drink with no regrets. Her mind turned to the real world and memories of her beloved grandmother sipping on white wine or gin and juice should she need a sleep aid. The thought brought tears to the brim of her eyes.

"Can I get a white wine?" A nod from the barmaid confirmed her request, and soon Ino was sipping on the cloyingly sweet beverage.

Now she was desperate to get out of the past. Right now she was in a death battle, a twisted reality where you had to play or you would cease to exist. She couldn't dwell on that, however, or else she'd go insane.

Her deep green eyes flickered across the backs and faces of the various people crowding the bar. A somewhat rowdy group of three were talking near the front, but they weren't particularly interesting. Only the slightly haggard look they had interested her for a mere moment, but who in this world didn't look like that?

The town of Beginnings was now a place for the beaten to nurse their wounds, the broken to steel their hearts, and the masses to plan their attack. Hundreds had undoubtedly died already, and many more were sure to follow.

It was only a matter of time before Ino joined them. RPGs had never been her forte, so to speak. Repetitive dying was one of her signature traits. At least in past games she could resort to random spells or running, but no such luck here.

She had made sure to equip herself with a kodachi blade; hopefully it would work for her. The wooden handled short-sword had cost a significant bit of Col and barely left her with enough for some cheap armor.

Shaking herself from her thoughts, she sipped down the last of her wine and left the building. She couldn't help but wonder how long it would take until her name would join those of her fellow fallen prisoners.

...

Incredible. That was the only word he could think of to describe the curveball thrown his way. In-fucking-credible. The katana-wielder wasn't too keen of a virtual reality game to begin with; his forte was shooter games in which he would choose to use a knife as his main weapon. So all-in-all this wasn't too different a game than what he was used to. Except for the fact that in those shooter games his kill-to-death ratio wasn't exactly the highest due to his choice of weaponry. He would always get berated about the way he used to run around and just throw knives and stab people in the back while others were shooting rifles and using rocket launchers to kill others. But not Zi.

Zi was a different breed of gamer. Zi was the type of gamer who couldn't give half a damn about what everyone else was screaming about. He usually left his headset unplugged and let the other players scream through his T.V. while he chuckled to himself. But this game was slightly different from all those PvPs he was so used to playing. Instead of ignoring everyone, he had to blend in and open his ears for once. Unfortunately, though, word around the grapevine was that hell had actually frozen over and there was no escape.

He decided to play through the night unlike many others who hoped that the harsh reality was only just their worst nightmare. He wasn't going to think about anything he couldn't control, so instead he did what he knew he could do. And that was killing AI's. He spent all night figuring out how to properly hold a sword and then forget it instantly in favor of what felt most comfortable. Admittedly, he wasn't the brightest guy, but he knew how to make things work. In the real world he was an athlete until the time came to get a job, so sudden changes in motion were nothing new to him, but dodging swine and creepy crawlers was completely different from ducking and diving through small holes on a basketball court.

At first it looked like they were coming at the speed of light. It took a few swings to get the timing down and shake the nerves off, but he got it pat down in due time. Zi leveled up a couple times overnight and collected a few items he figured he should save for when he really needed to use them. And just as quickly as night had fallen, the sun had risen in this virtual world. He found it weird because one would think that, after hours of slaying, one would be exhausted and ready to catch up on some sleep. But he wasn't tired at all; if anything, it was more the mental exhaustion that had him sitting on a park bench in the middle of town.

It seemed like most of other players were just waking up and getting ready to literally sulk themselves to death. During the first day of the game, many players became overwhelmed by the sudden twist to the game and decided to take their lives, hoping that it was all a hoax and they would awaken in the real world. They saw the task in front of them as impossible, as something only a truly evil man could develop.

At first Zi thought that there might have been some truth to that hypothesis. He thought that one simply couldn't run through this game like a madman and come out alive, that he couldn't complete this impossible task alone. And that's why he would have to adapt. He was going to do his best to keep his kill-to-death ratio as high as possible. He was going to make a new personal record. But he couldn't do it alone. He needed a partner to get through this hell. And so Zi figured out Step 1 to beating the impossible game. Step 2 was going to be a bit harder if the death toll in this game continued to rise.

...

"How much of this boar hide do you think we need to make armour?" asked Kaka as he slayed the beast in front of him. According to his inventory, he had a fair few pieces of the hide, and he knew that both of his companions had a few pieces themselves.

"Well, our Light Armour Forging is all at zero, so expect to waste a ton of items before we actually make anything successful," said Raynor as he scrolled down a list of makeable items. "Plus, by the looks of it, we have to be level five before we can actually equip any form of hide armour. Let's see, let's see... Alright, by using a blacksmith's hammer and an anvil, eight pieces of boar hide have a forty percent chance to make hide gloves."

"Eight pieces for gloves!" exclaimed Kaka, thinking that for eight pieces a whole set would be made. Plus the fact it had such a low chance made it almost not even worth the effort.

"What do you expect for somebody who doesn't have any skill in the ability?" said Taylor casually as he slayed a boar that had been charging towards him with little effort. "It'll be like most games: the more you spam and level the ability, the more chance of success you'll have along with the less amount of items it'll use."

"Makes sense, I guess," said Kaka as he sighed in acceptance. He had exactly eight pieces of boar, and he wasn't prepared to throw that for nothing after almost being killed to get said pieces.

"I've got the blacksmith's hammer already, and I guess if it's helpful for forging, I won't be selling it when I get something that boosts my abilities," said Raynor as he watched another pack of pigs spawn. "Hide armour really doesn't bother me, though. I need to get something like iron or steel."

"Plan on being on the front lines?" said Taylor as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"Heck, yeah. Right up where the carnage is," said Raynor smugly. "You going to join me at the front?"

"No bloody way," said Kaka. "I don't want to throw my life away."

"Stop being a little girl about this," said Taylor as he shook his head condescendingly. "You guys probably want to level up a lot more before you go for it, though. Right now you barely even stand a chance against the boars outside the town."

"Well, what level are you?" asked Raynor.

"Yeah, if we grind up to your level we should be able to one-shot those pigs too," said Kaka as he eyed the brown-haired man in front of him.

"I spent all day grinding yesterday, so it'll take you a little while to catch up," said Taylor as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I guess, though, if you wanted to risk it, you could try kill something else. Nothing too crazy but something that'll get you through the levels that little bit quicker. There's no rush, though, so don't do anything stupid."

"Well, what's the next level of creature?" asked Raynor.

"Nepents, I believe," said Taylor, recalling that a stranger had mentioned them in passing. "While taking a piss in the tavern, I heard a former Beta tester explaining what to look out for on this floor. I hear they're these little plant things, but they're around level three so watch yourself. Just head north for a while and stick to the open plains; the forests and paths to towns are where the stronger monsters lurk."

"Got it," said Kaka with a nod before tilting his head to the side. "You make it sound like you're not coming along?"

"Nah, I'm going to work on my other skills," said Taylor. "Be sure to form a party. That way you share the exp and Col as opposed to hogging it all yourself."

"Isn't that what you've been doing this entire time?" questioned Raynor.

"Yep," said Taylor with a twisted smirk upon his face.

"You're a bastard, you know that right?" asked Raynor with a smile as he created a party and invited Kaka to the group, the teenager quickly joining. "We'll be back in an hour or so, and we'll talk about what to do next."

"Fine," said Taylor as he started to walk towards a nearby river before pausing midstep and looking over his shoulder. "Stay alive."

"You know it's really freaking ominous when this is how we say goodbye to each other," shouted Raynor in frustration as Taylor created more distance between them.

"What was that about?" asked Kaka.

"Don't worry about it," said Raynor brushing it off. "C'mon, lets go kill us some plants."

"That sounds nowhere near as exciting as it probably is," said Kaka, to which Raynor could only shrug before looking over his shoulder to see that Taylor had pulled a fishing rod out of his inventory.

"It's got to be more exciting than fishing, though," said Raynor, wondering why Taylor had chosen such a skill to level up.

"Probably," said Kaka placing his hands behind his head. "What do you think's going on, in the real world, that is?"

"Panic probably," said Raynor. "Ten thousand people just get put into a coma; the world can't deal with something like that. Not to mention the fact that every time one of them dies in here, they die out there. How many people are going to be waiting to see whether or not we come out of this alive?"

"It's a bit crazy in that sense, isn't it?" said Kaka wondering how his family was reacting right now before shaking his head, clearing his mind of those thoughts. "We shouldn't worry about stuff like that, though. We should just focus on beating the game."

"I think it'll take a little while before we can focus on something like that," said Raynor. "We're having this much trouble already on floor freaking one, imagine what the shit on floor ten's like, let alone anything higher."

"Then we better level up," said Kaka confidently.

"Sounds like a plan," said Raynor as he patted Kaka's shoulder.

At least it was as good a plan as any.

…

Morning already. Ino could barely believe she'd survived the night, let alone that it wasn't all a nightmare. As she made her way through the still chaotic streets, she kept her eyes open. For what, she didn't know…

The players that lined the streets all seemed too paranoid, but she guessed that was being hypocritical. All except one. It was really odd to see a player wearing sunglasses; she didn't even know you could equip them here.

Thinking for a moment, she quickly decided to join him. As she walked over to the bench he was occupying, she wondered why she was even interested.

"Um, mind if I sit?" Her eyes cut in the opposite direction. Nervousness was practically rolling off of her form.

More surprised than anything, Zi never expected anyone to approach him. He figured the majority were still a little too freaked out to trust anyone yet.

He fumbled with words before finding his tongue. "U-uh yeah...er I mean no! I don't mind."

A bit of relief washed over her. She hadn't expected him to actually respond. "Thanks…" Ino tentatively sat down, her eyes still averted. "M-my name's Mo- er- Ino…" Inwardly she cursed for almost letting her real name slip, but she turned her gaze to the dark haired man.

"Ino, eh?" He turned to face the brown-haired girl's gaze with his own. "I'm Zi. Nice to meetcha." he responded while extending his right hand out to her.

She smiled slightly and took the outstretched hand. Her stomach wasn't appreciating the butterflies swarming inside, but there wasn't much she could do about the anxiety. It was rather refreshing, Ino thought, to find someone that wasn't acting violent and rude from high stress levels.

"Same here," she said.

"So, were you up all night levelling too or did you just wake up in despair like the rest that are walking around like zombies?" Zi inquired.

"Oh..." The question caught Ino off guard. It was her that had come to him, but she was glad she hadn't had to start the conversation; that had never been one of her strong points. "Uh, yeah. I stayed up. I was trying to get used to using weapons… I usually go for magic…" She paused. "But I guess there was a bit of despair there too. I'm just trying my hardest to work past it."

"That's good. Not many others have figured that part out yet. I was trying to do something along those lines as well. This whole virtual reality thing is pretty weird to get used to, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. I'm usually a quick learner when it comes to video games. Although this may be the first RPG I've ever played, levelling up is something I'm used to doing. So I think I'll be fine in the long run," Zi finished before staring back towards the wandering crowds.

"Wow, you seem pretty confident in your abilities…" Ino looked to her shoes. Zi's words made her feel better in a way, more confident. If he was able to stare this game in the face and keep going, she could try as well. "Hey, I know this is sudden, but- eh, nevermind." She shook her head.

"No no, it's ok. Ask away," he insisted, turning his attention back to her.

"Oh, um… I was just wondering if you would want to go on a quest or something… I'm not the best player out there, but my speed stats are pretty high and I've gotten pretty good with my blade…" she stuttered out. She wasn't doing a very good job of selling herself, but, maybe he would consider her offer.

"A quest, huh?" Zi pondered the thought for a moment before coming to an easy answer. This game was meant to be played in groups with other players. Step 1 to getting out this world just threw itself right at him, so he wasn't going to ignore it.

"Sounds like a plan. When do we start?" He smirked.

Ino gaped, amazed that he had accepted. She hadn't thought it'd be that easy. "Whenever you're ready, I guess…"

...

"Heh I can't wait to see the look on the smug bastard's face," said Kaka, unable to prevent himself from breaking out in a grin.

"Level five and counting," chuckled Raynor, "I didn't expect that nepent with a flower to give me that much experience."

"What level do you reckon Taylor's at?" asked Kaka, "He dodged my question earlier on."

"I'd say three, maybe four," said Raynor. "At least that's when I started noticing I could take down the boars with ease. One hit for the win! We better go find him. I'm starting to get hungry."

"Hopefully his fishing skill increased enough for him to catch something decent for the three of us," said Kaka, "I guess I'll chip in and cook. I need to raise some of my skills."

"Be my guest," said Raynor as he headed toward the lake at which they had left Taylor at. "I'm quite sure I'd burn whatever I tried to make."

In truth, Kaka had only volunteered to cook because he didn't want to find himself becoming too reliant on his two newfound companions. They seemed trustworthy, but he had always been overly cautious.

"I see you two managed to survive," said Taylor, turning towards the duo as he noticed them. "Congratulations."

"Barely," said Raynor with a grin before gesturing to Kaka with his thumb. "This dumbass over here decided to attack one with a fruit on its head, and as soon as he killed it, like twenty of them swarmed us."

"I take it y'all managed to get some good experience then," said Taylor with a nod.

"Level five, baby," said Raynor banging his fist against his chest.

"Not bad," said Taylor with the slightest hint of a smirk upon his face. He turned to Kaka. "And you?"

"Four but I'm just a few experience points short of hitting five," said the teenager. "So are you going to tell us what level you are now, or are you too scared?"

"Didn't I tell you earlier?" asked Taylor.

"You avoided the question completely!" shouted Kaka in frustration. Was this guy deliberately trying to piss him off?

"Let's have a look," said Taylor as he pulled up his status menu, Raynor and Kaka looking over his shoulder before their mouths dropped slightly.

"Level eight!"

"What the hell?" exclaimed Kaka in frustration.

"Told you I grinded for a while. Plus when I was fishing all these mud crabs kept coming out of the water, slow as buggery but they took a few hits each to kill," said Taylor. "I managed to gain an extra level or two because of that."

"This is bullshit," said Kaka with a frown. This hadn't been the plan. At the present moment he was outclassed by every member of the group. Hell, one was even double his current level.

"Don't be like that," said Taylor with a smug look on his face. "Tell ya what: we'll form a party at some stage and go out monster hunting. That way you can catch up."

"You'll only end up getting further ahead of us, though," said Raynor. Personally he didn't care about the whole thing as much as Kaka seemed to.

"Nah, each level progressively requires more experience to reach the next, so by the time it takes me to gain one level, you will have reached two and be on your way to the third. Plus I don't know whether or not weaker creatures will start capping and I'll be gaining less experience than you guys, but that's something we'll discover in time," said Taylor before opening his menu and taking a gander at his inventory. "I managed to catch about seven fish."

"Well, Kaka volunteered to cook 'em, and I'm sure he's getting moody about having the weakest skill set of the three of us," said Raynor with a grin. "What do you say the two of us go kill some more monsters while he's cooking up a bite?"

"I swear to god I will poison the food," said Kaka as he grit his teeth. He couldn't see the funny side here, being the most defenceless of their little trio did not sound fun in a game that almost certainly ended in death.

"Mud crab," said Taylor as he pointed down the beach towards the creature, Kaka's eyes sharpening before he charged forward.

"I will end you!"

"Did you know him pregame?" Taylor asked of Raynor.

"Nope."

"Probably for the better," said Taylor with a shrug of the shoulders as he watched Kaka continually hack at the top of the shell. "You have to hit the underbelly; that's its weak point."

"Like hell!"

…

"Hiiiyah!" Zi yelled while slashing through what had to be at least the fifth Wind Wasp that came out of nowhere.

"You okay over there, Ino?" he asked while dodging a tackling boar.

"Gah- Yeah. I'm fine," Ino gasped out as she buried her blade in a wasp's stomach. "How many more are there?" she yelled over her shoulder.

"Haha. Who knows? But that's the fun of it, right? The more that come the more accustomed we'll get to it. Just be sure to keep an eye out for those stupid plants while we're at it. We are still in a forest. They can come out of anywhere," Zi explained while he readied himself for another boar attack. They seemed to be the most abundant monster on this floor.

"Right," Ino nodded, but she had no time to respond further as another nepent appeared behind her. This one had some sort of fruit on its head. "Ahh! Holy-" She hurriedly sheathed her kodachi and began running. "Careful of that one, Zi! It's a trap!" She looked towards her companion.

Zi swung his katana at the boar coming his way before taking a quick peek back at Ino to make sure she was okay. He then surveyed the surrounding area to make sure there was nothing else creeping up on them so they could come up with a plan to quickly kill the trap.

"Uh...shit. Alright, don't provoke it. We have to take it out without it knowing we're coming for it. One of us has to distract it while the other kills it from behind. You up for a little teamwork, Ino?" Zi asked his new partner.

"I don't really have a choice in the matter, now do I?" The small girl called to her comrade. "We can't just ignore it…" She stood a few meters away from the beast, catching her breath from the start the creature had given her.

"Nope." Zi replied as he scoped out the area. There were a few blind spots where one could pop out from. Most of the forestry was thin in diameter but there stood a few trees that could be used to hide behind. He figured if he could maneuver quick enough, the beast wouldn't see it coming until his blade was already halfway through it's torso.

"Alright Ino, just hang in there. I have an idea, you just have to trust me on this one, okay?" the black haired swordsman called out.

Ino straightened her back, ready for his plan, "Yeah, sure. I trust you." In spite of the dangerous situation, she tossed a wide smile at the man, wordlessly urging him to go ahead.

Zi gave a quick nod and let out a quiet breathe before making his way to the nearest blind spot, trying his best to avoid any unaware enemies on the way. He never took his eyes off of Ino nor the nepent. They weren't far from his location but one mistake could mean the difference between life and death.

He kept a mindful eye on the enemies spawning up and made a quick decision to ignore the small fries and focus only on the staring contest between Ino and the abomination.

The digital leaves ruffled under his feet as he rolled between the openings to the next hiding spot. He closed in on the fight, his heart racing from adrenaline. As much he knew he should have feared a situation like this, he instead welcomed it. The opportunity to satisfy his stupid dream of saving a 'damsel in distress' was so close he could taste it. He silently cursed all those superhero movies he liked to watch.

In the shadow of the large beast, Ino couldn't help but tremble slightly. Of course she trusted Zi, but the look the nepent was giving her wasn't pleasant, nevermind that it didn't have eyes.

"Eh... Any time now, Zi…" She called, hoping that it was in the correct direction. She couldn't move lest the fruit-headed behemoth get the wrong idea and start coming after her. Her only choice was to stand her virtual ground and hope Zi's plan worked.

'_Alright Zi. This is it, your moment on the big stage. Don't fuck it up. For god's sake, please don't let me fuck this up.' _Zi took one last breath before unsheathing his sword. He jumped out from his hiding spot and poured all his energy into his sword. It made a low whizzing sound behind him while glowing from the base of the blade.

"Watch out, Ino! Here it comes!" he screamed in desperation.

Heeding his warning, the girl did a tuck-n-roll of sorts to get out of range of the attack. Her short leap carrying her just out of range.

"Alright, here it comes! Sword Skill Activate!" Zi clutched the katana with both hands and thrust it towards the enemy.

"Tsujikaze!" A gust of twirling wind shot from the edge of the blade and spliced through the air like a bullet before engulfing the whole of the nepent. He watched in awe as the attack flung the monster into the air before completely annihilating it. The threat was over… for now.

...

"I think I'm going to throw up," gagged Raynor as he took a bite from the fish.

"Like you could do any better," shot back Kaka.

"We have shitty fish and a shitty cook, what did you expect we'd be eating?" asked Taylor. Considering the fishing rod he had purchased was the cheapest along with his fishing skill being non-existent to start with, he knew it would be a while before he caught anything worthwhile. Some would question why he would waste time on something like that so early in the game but he found it a good way to relax.

It reminded him of the good times he'd had in the outside world, and it also reminded him of his last time there. He had spent hours awaiting the midnight release of the game which had been distributed worldwide. People were worried, however, as the server would crash when the game came online. There had been times in the past where, once the server was opened to the public, hundreds of thousands of people across the globe would try to access the game all at a single time. He couldn't help but imagine that because of some stupid bit of luck he had managed to become one of the first ten thousand people to enter the system without the game crashing on them.

Some shitty luck he'd had.

"Are you happy now? Finally levelled up one of your skills?" asked Raynor as he eyed the fish sitting by Kaka's feet. "And why haven't you taken a bite? Taylor and I shouldn't be the only ones who have to face these atrocities."

"Yeah, level two cooking now and those mud crabs I got bumped me up to level five," said Kaka before looking down at the fish. "In the real world I'm a vegetarian… but I guess that doesn't really matter since they're not real fish."

"They taste real," said Taylor before adding on, "real bad."

"I said before that I will end you," said Kaka as he turned his gaze on Taylor.

"I thought you were directing that at the mud crab," said Taylor with a shrug of the shoulders. "Speaking of which, I managed to get a couple of Crab Carapaces for my efforts earlier. I guess we can either sell them off or try and make a shield out of them."

"Let's have a look," said Raynor as he opened up his menu and scrolled down to the correct section. "Says we need three shells and that there's a twenty four percent chance."

"Well, the only way those percentages are going to go up is if you level it. I take it since you are the hammer-wielder you'll look at armour and weapon smithing as side skills for a bit of Col," said Taylor.

"It's something I'll look into," said Raynor before an inventory screen popped up in front of him, showing both the carapaces and the boar hide that Taylor had. "Whoa, I didn't mean like right now, sheesh."

"You might as well take it now. There's no telling when we'll part as a group," said Taylor.

"You're not planning on dying on us anytime soon now, are ya?" said Raynor.

Taylor paused at that, though, knowing full well that death was always going to be around them. The life they lived up to that point had taken the place of the secondary world. For the time being, they would have to face the fact that simply walking from town to town was going to be dangerous. The high level creatures aside, not everybody could play the good guy and it would only be a matter of time before somebody snapped and killed another player and there was no guarantee saying that it wouldn't be him.

It was a scary thought.

Keeping his lighthearted attitude, however, Taylor managed to say the first thing that came to his mind. "If Kaka keeps cooking like this, I might be dead before you know it."

"I will shove this fish down your throat. Durability be damned!"

...

Both Ino and Zi were overjoyed with the success of their quest. Neither could believe the situation they were able to pull themselves out of. They hoped that this kind of success could continue on for a little while longer.

They began to approach the Town of Beginnings and immediately noticed how quiet it seemed. It was like a ghost town compared to the lively village it was before they left.

"What now?" Ino inquired as she turned to face Zi.

"Hmm...I don't know. This seems really strange. Where is everybody? It's like the plague ran through here," Zi observed as they began to wander the city.

"Indeed," she agreed. "Maybe there's some action going on at town square?" Ino wondered aloud.

"Well, no harm in checking it out. Hopefully we can find out why everyone decided to ditch us."

Ino and Zi found their way towards the town square where it sounded like a large group of people were gathered.

"Hey, it sounds like everyone is over there. Maybe we should check it out and see what's going on," Zi suggested.

The young teen looked in the direction the commotion was coming from before nodding her head in agreement.

As the two grew closer to the coliseum the voices gradually became louder and louder until it became just a bunch of noise. It sounded like there was a bunch of arguing going on between various parties.

They tried to find some sort of answer for what was going on until it literally hit them in the face. Flyers from the stadium event were falling out from over the top and flying in every which direction.

Zi pulled the flyer off his face and took a second to read it.

"Urgent Town Meeting. Everyone invited," Zi read before looking up to the top of the stadium. "Sounds important. Let's check it out," he suggested.

"Lead the way." Ino smiled up at him. They were both still tired from their time in the forest, but the flyer said it was urgent.

The duo entered the stadium and were greeted by a tall man who was standing on guard. He kept his level hidden but it was better to be on the safe end and assume he was an ass-kicker, else he wouldn't be the unofficial bouncer.

The guard kept himself armed with a strong stare at the two newcomers.

"If you're here for the town meeting, you are more than welcome to sit in. But do be wary of those around you. It is suggested you keep at ease while inside and keep your eyes and ears open. Stay civilized and we hope to see you fighting for the cause with us soon enough," the heavily-armed player announced before stepping aside and letting the pair pass.

It seemed like whatever was going on, it was big.

...

"How come you get to keep it?" whined Kaka gesturing towards the newly forged shield strung across Raynor's back.

"One, because I'm the only one who can wield a shield, two, I didn't know what the hell I would make from all that junk, and three, you tried to poison me!" exclaimed Raynor. He had had no idea that despite only having a one-in-four chance of it being successful, he would pull off smithing a brand new shield on his first attempt. It'd added an extra couple of points to his endurance stats as well, which made it all the more worthwhile.

"I'll kill you while you sleep," scowled Kaka clutching at the scabbard of his short sword.

"Now, now, children can we not fight? If we upset Kaka then our dinner might be even worse than the lunch we had," said Taylor.

"Hey, it's wasn't that bad," protested Kaka, ready to defend himself regardless of whether or not his leg was being pulled.

"Pfft, says you," said Raynor with a chuckle. "You had level two fishing by the time you cooked your fish after getting all that experience from screwing up our ones. I bet random pieces weren't burnt all throughout yours."

"He may still be a little mad over the whole level thing," said Taylor as he ran his fingers through his hair, half ignoring the dark gaze that Kaka sent in his direction. "If leveling system is anything like a normal RPG it could almost be plotted on a logarithmic graph due to the fact that the higher level you are trying to achieve, the longer it will take to get. Give it a couple of days and while you're trying to get to level ten, I'll only be at level eleven or so if that."

"Doesn't make it any better," grumbled Kaka.

"Just don't die. Remember that that is priority number one," said Taylor as the three of them finally finished their venture past the wilderness and found themselves back within the safety of the Town of Beginnings. Everything, however, was not as fine as it could be if the group of fifty or so people standing near the entrance were anything to go by.

"I know you're all scared," shouted the apparent leader as the trio came closer. "What we need to do now, however, is not panic and focus on the goal ahead. The closest village is a half an hour walk from here, but it is guarded by a number of creatures that make passage difficult for the time being. What I'm suggesting is that we create a safe passage so that we can actually start making some damned progress in this game and earn our freaking freedom. Are you with me?"

"YEAH!" came the uproar of the players, each of them determined to actually do something after having spent the night before praying that this was all a nightmare.

"You guys want to help clear a path?" Raynor asked of his two companions.

"Count me in," said Kaka keen for the adventure; he also didn't want to be stuck in the beginning town for too long. Kaka didn't want to be the last one to return to the real world when such a time came. Taylor, however, had a different answer all together.

"No, I've still got some stuff to do," he said casually as he began to walk off. "I'll catch up with you guys down the track."

"What you're leaving, just like that?" asked Raynor as he noticed the large group begin to move out on their quest.

"Yea," said Taylor as he stopped in the middle of the road and turned to look at his two friends. "Got a problem with that?"

"Nah, nah, it's just… unexpected," said Kaka honestly. Considering the three of them were relatively high levelled for this stage of the game, he figured it wouldn't be too difficult to make it to the next village if yesterday's attempt was anything to go by. "Since you're the strongest of the three of us, you'd think that you would be the first one to volunteer."

"I may be stronger in regards to levels, but not emotionally," said Taylor somewhat cryptically. "There's some things I need to take care of beforehand. Nothing dangerous but just stuff I need to get off my chest."

Kaka looked as if he was about to respond before Raynor put a hand on his shoulder, silencing him before he began. "Stay alive," he said finally.

"Stay alive," repeated Taylor before he turned back down the road and began to walk once more.

"C'mon, let's go," said Raynor as he headed towards the large group that had just set off. Kaka stayed in place a few seconds longer as he looked at his two friends walk in different directions, possibly never to see one another again with nothing more than a simple 'stay alive' as a farewell. Swallowing a lump that had formed in his throat Kaka shouted out towards where Taylor was.

"When you see us again, I'll be ten levels higher than you, you hear!" he exclaimed and even though he knew Taylor could hear it, the man gave no response as he continued on his way. His message having been heard, Kaka turned in his place and rushed towards where Raynor was and joined the expedition, and he couldn't help but hope that one day they would run into their friend again.

...

**This chapter was brought to you by DevilsDoCry, Razamataz22, and Kakarot Son.**

**Guest appearances from former TDS members Zi-Dawg and Borderlined Innocence.**

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**This story in particular, we are inviting anybody who wants to make a character for a cameo appearance to join us in future chapters. As this is going to be an OC centric fic we're looking for people who want to add themselves to the chaos that will be happening, either for a single scene or if they want to come in and save the day at a critical moment. Send us an application and we'll see if you've got what it takes.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: We do not own SAO**

...

Taylor looked upon the giant memorial stone as another name was etched into the ominous black monument. "Impaled through the heart," he read as he looked at how the latest victim of this monstrosity of a joke had died. It was gut wrenching as he looked at just how many people had had their lives ripped away by something that was meant to be enjoyed.

"Oh god, oh god," said a player behind him in panicked whispers. Twisting on the spot, Taylor found his gaze upon a young female player who had dropped to her knees as she openly wept. He would hazard a guess that she was roughly fifteen years-old or so, but he had never been good at figuring out a person's age. She had neon-blue hair, however, which was something that either meant she was an otaku - he thought that was what the title was - or going through the rebellious stage of being a teenager. Putting that thought to the side, Taylor slowly stepped forward and knelt down beside her before putting a comforting hand upon her shoulder. The girl, however, only stiffened at the physical contact and flinched away. "Don't, please."

Taylor swallowed a lump that had been forming in his throat. Despite his usually cold demeanour towards strangers, he would consider himself a monster if he didn't at least try to comfort a crying woman, even if she didn't want him anywhere near her. As he tried to reach out again, however, she looked up at him, her eyes red and clearly devoid of sleep. "What was their name?" he asked softly trying to get her to open up to him.

Taylor watched as the girl bit her bottom lip with enough force that, had they been on the outside world, she would have drawn blood. She opened her mouth but only a choked cry escaped before she covered her face with her hands and muffled a wail that would have otherwise frightened the people nearby. Not like they weren't scared already, not so much by the girl's actions but by the reality they were forced to adapt to. All of these people had not wanted this, they had merely wanted to enjoy a game on the first day of its release. Had it not been for the twisted mind of someone who was happy to play with their lives like puppets on a string, they would have returned to their normal lives after a couple hours of play.

It seemed a lifetime ago.

"Please, just leave me alone," she said as she pushed herself onto shaky legs. Taylor watched as she began to walk away and nearly tripped over her own feet. He couldn't help but hope that she would be alright. He never really had a way with words, but he wished that he could have said something to cheer her up. At the same time, however, if she wasn't willing to open up to him, he couldn't realistically help her. His old drama teacher may have told the class once about 'those who are unwilling to help themselves cannot be helped by others' or something like that.

Damn he missed those classes.

Turning his attention back to the memorial stone, he wasn't pleased to find that two more names had been added to the monument in the last minute, possibly a record that would haunt friends and family for all eternity. As seconds ticked by, a scream echoed through the air, causing Taylor to whip around on his feet to find that people were rushing towards the nearby railings, but he was unable to miss the distinctive sight of neon-blue hair before it vanished from view.

Even though he knew it was helpless, he couldn't help but sprint towards the railings in time to watch as the girl being smashed into thousands of blue shards before bursting out of existence. Taylor's fist clenched before he slammed it into the railing. Was there have been something he could have done, something he could have said to prevent this?

Making his way back to the memorial stone, he found the girl's name etched at the bottom. "Krystal123," he said as he read the username before scanning up the list. For some reason that name stood out as he had read it only minutes before but he couldn't remember why. It didn't take him long to find it, however, and he read the whole thing out loud but in no more than whisper.

"Acanjoss: killed in a duel by Krystal123."

Taylor's head dropped slightly before he punched the stone with all the force he could muster, a purple panel appearing stating that the object was immortal, but he paid it no attention. Could he have been able to say anything? Probably not, as he had never gone through trauma like that. He imagined that the duel had occurred before they had all found themselves stuck in the plaza, listening to the rules of this death game. Krystal had probably spent the night tearing at her hair believing it was all a lie.

Nothing he could have said would have mattered.

Walking away at a noticeably slow pace, Taylor couldn't help but wonder what he could do to ensure that as few people as possible lost their lives. He knew it was false hope believing that everybody would get out of here alive, more likely than not, Krystal would not be the only one who fell to their deaths for not being able to live in this world.

Ten thousand people had started this game, and already hundreds had been killed through various methods. Taylor feared for his own life as well, something which only seemed natural. Even if he was to max out his levels there was no guarantee that he would survive, and knowing that made him want to find a bar somewhere and drink until he infected himself with the 'intoxicated' status affliction.

What good would that do, however? Running and hiding from an enemy that existed everywhere around you was a scary idea. Playing the game as a game, however, was an even scarier idea, but one that had to be taken into consideration. Taylor prayed that, out in the real world, they were doing everything possible to try and find a way to safely log them out of the game, and not just unplug them once they had given up hope.

That was possibly the scariest thought in its own right: that someone he cared about out in the real world would rip the helmet off his head in the hope it would wake him up but kill him in the process instead. Thankfully, he didn't think any of his friends were that stupid or reckless, and he could imagine a couple of them joking about how he would finish the game in a week and everything would be back to normal.

Strangely enough, these thoughts had given him his goal, and even though it was a silly one, it would help push him through. "Wait for me guys," he said to himself, solidifying his thoughts. He had no idea how long they would be waiting, but he knew that they would wait; he had faith in that.

Hopefully, when he got out, they would have forgotten that he owed them money, but that was wishful thinking.

...

Raynor couldn't believe it. Players who moments before had been gazing in awe and steeling themselves for the coming challenge were now dumbstruck. Their fearless leader had turned tail and ran at the first sign of danger, showing that he was a coward before all else. He had talked a lot of crap, and when a boar had challenged the group, he took it upon himself to destroy it. He'd taken a single hit, and everyone had watched as the boy fled as fast as the game would allow him. This left many wondering just what they were doing out here and what they were going to do without someone to lead them.

"Oh god, what are we to do now?" shrieked someone in the crowd. Raynor could feel the uneasy tide starting to turn in the group of players; the sight of their leader's cowardice had rattled their resolves. Raynor could see Kaka shifting uncomfortably as he tried to gauge the reaction. Already the placid gathering was starting to turn nasty, a fist fight having erupted amongst a few players whilst others were already walking back to the town center, most likely towards the inn to drown their sorrows. Without somebody to lead them they had no real point in being there anymore, and many looked as if they would simply leave and try again another day.

"Listen up!" shouted Raynor, already thinking what he was doing was a bad idea. "Yes, you have suffered a loss but you can't let that shake you. We have to carry on to the next town with or without a leader,"

"Walk out of this town and we get slaughtered by whatever is out there. Stay here and we get to see out another day. That guy had the right idea," came a voice, simply saying what many were thinking.

"Aye, stay here and live, move on and you might not live to see it. But we must all take it upon ourselves to move onwards or no one will ever get to leave this game. So stay here, go back to the town and stagnate if you want, but for those with a spine, follow us," said Raynor gesturing towards Kaka.

"Sooner or later, if you lot want to return home, you're going to have to progress to the hundredth floor," said Kaka calmly. He wasn't entirely sure if that was true, but it made sense - the creator seemed like the kind of guy who liked toying with people.

"Either way, we're going with or without you," said Raynor, equipping his hammer and shield.

Kaka sighed as Raynor walked towards the town's exit. Gesturing downwards in front of himself, Kaka checked that he was adequately stocked and supplied for their trip across the plains. With the levelling they had done, it now seemed that the journey would be easier, but he wasn't without doubt. When they had first tried to make it across,there had been a few higher level players that had embarked and survived. Yet Kaka worried for those who were still too traumatised by the reality of their situation, the ones who hadn't levelled up or tried to learn the game. They were the ones who had been killed last time, too terrified to try and fight and too exhausted to run away. Kaka had seen one bloodbath, and that was one too many.

"Yo big guy, wait up!" shouted a voice from the dwindling gathering of players.

"What you're proposing is crazy, but just the two of you trying to run the field alone is even crazier. Seems to me like you need a little back up," said a bespectacled player as he emerged from the crowd.

"Yeah, we'll fight too. We don't want to be left to rot in this game either," came another shout from a small group of players.

Raynor stopped and sighed relief as he turned on his heels and faced the players who would now be accompanying him. The man wearing the sunglasses was on par with him and Kaka, and was sporting one of the higher-level starting katanas. Standing next to him was a short young girl who couldn't have been any older than fifteen. She didn't seem to have a weapon equipped, or at least that's what he thought until Raynor spotted a small scabbard hanging from her belt, possibly a tanto or dirk. The group of seven looked like friends who had grouped up together in game.

_'How many others have done the same thing and become trapped in here,'_ thought Raynor. The three males had all outfitted themselves similarly, two of them sporting shields and spears while the other had opted for a big two-handed bastard sword. The females, however, had opted for something more practical in Raynor's eyes. The younger of the two had a thin rapier strapped to her hip, which was somewhat obscured by the red cloak she wore. The elder-looking one had a hook sword strapped tightly against her back.

"Alright," Raynor said, addressing the small group. "If we're to make it across, we need to know each other's strengths and preferred roles in battle. I'm Raynor, and I would class myself as a tank. I have spent most of my experience points in defence, endurance, and strength. I prefer to stand on the first line and soak up damage while my associate here deals the damage," said Raynor, motioning for Kaka to give his piece.

As each player in turn made their speech, Raynor was already formulating his plan: they would each split into a team of three. Each would have a shield-wielding tank taking blows whilst their other two team members would switch and deal damage on the counter attack, thus limiting the amount of players taking damage at one time and keeping the group together.

The only thing that was worrying Raynor was the skill sets of this ragtag group. Darius, the youngest of the group of five, had opted for a two-handed bastard sword. A weapon that required a high strength stat to wield comfortably, but the youngster had only bothered improving his speed and endurance the entire time. Rouge, the apparent leader of her small band, had only bothered plowing her experience points into her attack stat, meaning that it would only take a few hits before she became worryingly close to 0 HP. Ino on the other hand was the opposite of Rouge: all of her accumulated EXP had been put into increasing her health, yet she had paid very little heed to making herself stronger. Even her weapon proficiency was staggeringly low for her level. The rest had allocated their experience points more appropriately: Zi, the katana-wielder had concentrated more on speed and damage, while the two shield-wielders, Kellum and Steiner, had outfitted themselves similarly to Raynor.

"Alright. Myself, Kaka, and Darius will be the lead group. Kellum, Rouge, and Asuna will be to our left, and finally, Steiner, Zi, and Ino will be watching our right. Now that we are organised, all we can do now is embark," said Raynor lifting his shield off his back and pulling his hammer from his belt.

"What are we waiting for then?" asked Kaka as he gestured for the others to follow. He wasn't sure what to expect. The last attempt to leave the walls of the City of Beginnings that he had been a part of had been akin to a massacre. The black-haired teenager knew that he wasn't quite at Taylor's level yet, but in retrospect, the wild boars they had run into weren't that highly levelled. Kaka just hoped that they didn't run into too many other creatures.

…

"Look up there," said Darius as he noticed the silhouette of some sort of creature up ahead. "What do you think that is?"

"Doesn't look too friendly," said Kaka as his eyebrows furrowed.

"A boar maybe, but its movements don't look like they're as powerful or deliberate," speculated Raynor as he squinted his eyes, trying to make out what the creature was. It wasn't standing tall enough to be a nepent.

"Do we tell the others?" asked Kaka as he glanced back to where the rest of their group followed. "I think we should probably be careful."

"Pfft, we can, if you're really that scared, but we should be able to handle whatever it is," said Raynor as he clasped a hand on Kaka's shoulder. "We're both at level five, going on six since we cleared a small drove of boars back there. Just keep your blade steady and we'll be fine."

"I reckon Raynor has a point," said Darius. "I'm only at level three, but I've got a pretty strong sword and a mean swing to go with it."

Raynor briefly contemplated pointing out that his sword was likely ineffective without a decent strength stat to complement it, but figured that they had bigger fish to fry right now. "I'll show you guys how it's done; just sit back and watch."

"Y'know we're in a party, so it won't make a difference if you kill it yourself or if we all work together," Kaka pointed out, although he didn't push it any further. This Raynor guy was the one he'd known for the longest in the little group they had formed, but so long as Kaka managed to reach the next city, he wouldn't end up mourning too long if the guy threw his life away.

"I'll back you up," said Darius with a nod towards Raynor. The youngest in their little group was probably hoping to make sure that the creature lying ahead was killed so he would gain the experience necessary to level up.

"Alright then," said Raynor as he ran his palm along the shaft of his hammer, slowly drawing closer to the creature. Darius followed apprehensively, almost a metre behind the brown-haired tank. Kaka figured that acting as an intermediary between the rest of the party and the guys engaging the unknown foe was the best role he could play. Probably one of the safest too.

As the two neared the creature, Raynor immediately scanned it from head to toe. As he had suspected previously, it was lying on all-fours and was hunched over. If he ignored the sounds of the forest at night, like the crickets or the howling wind, the man could hear the unmistakable sound of low growling.

"Looks like a wolf to me," said Raynor as he allowed one eye to quickly drift back towards Darius to make sure the suddenly-quiet boy was still there. "I don't know what level it's going to be, so after I attack it, I want you to try and catch it by surprise if it looks like it's trouble."

"Got it," the boy said nervously after a moment's hesitation.

Raynor nodded to the boy once before raising his shield in front of him and charging towards the wolf. With any luck, it would be around his level, so as long as he played it safe, he'd emerge the victor.

The beast let off an almighty howl as he approached, but Raynor paid it little mind as he swung his hammer toward the wolf's ribcage, his weapon glowing a bright red as he activated a weapon skill. Instantly, its health dropped down to about half and the health bar above its head became yellow in colour. Whatever congratulatory thoughts were running through Raynor's mind were halted like a deer caught in headlights, though, as the wolf pounced on him with all four feet.

Raynor felt it claw at his face, and while he was sure that he wouldn't lose too many health points, it stung like a real bitch. He attempted to push the creature off his chest, but it was to no avail; he was pinned and his hammer - his only weapon - was lying uselessly at his side. The man was horrified to realise that the wolf had pinned him and his shield beneath its weight. Mustering all his strength, Raynor flung the beast aside, only for it to set upon his now defenseless body.

Raynor's heart began to beat faster as he looked around desperately for Darius or any of the others who had been just metres behind him a minute ago, but the wolf caught his attention once again as it snarled. The man yelled as pain that exceeded anything he had ever felt in his entire life erupted from his abdomen when the wolf sank its teeth into it. More desperate by the second as he began to feel a familiar liquid gush to the surrounding area - if he were able to look down at the wound, the liquid would no doubt be dark red - Raynor attempted to push the wolf off once more.

A yell caught his attention, and evidently the wolf's too, as he was able to sit up and turn towards the source of the noise. Darius. The boy was charging in like an idiot; just like Raynor himself had done moments ago when he was unaware of the wolf's strength. However, the big difference was that the boy lacked both the physique and prowess with a weapon that Raynor had. Before the wolf reached the younger boy, Raynor attempted to stand up, but he found that the more he fought, the dizzier he became. Finally, after what seemed like hours, he was able to push himself up properly and reach for his hammer.

Only to look into Darius' eyes as the confused boy shattered into a million red pieces, the wolf jumping mercilessly upon what would have been his body had it not disappeared.

"Bastard!" exclaimed Raynor as he rushed forward with his hammer, uncaring for the small trail of blood he left in his wake. The wolf, the murderer who had taken the life of the young boy and almost his own, began to turn around, but Raynor slammed his hammer down on the wolf's skull with a satisfying crack. To say the man was relieved once the wolf exploded in a similar manner as the boy was an understatement.

The brown-haired player had no words for what he had just experienced. So he laughed. He laughed until he had collapsed on the ground and was coughing up what felt like a mixture of his own bile, saliva, and blood. He laughed until the other members of the group panickedly arrived at the scene.

"Shit, what happened?" asked Zi as he looked around in alarm. "Where's Darius?"

"Gone," coughed Raynor as he attempted to bow his head in shame.

"What about the boar or whatever, did it have any fr-?"

"Never mind that!" Ino cut off Kaka as she pointed to Raynor's declining health bar. "He's still losing health. We need to stop the bleeding."

"Here," Kaka extended his arm as he gestured for someone to use the fabric on his sleeve to help the bleeding man.

"That's not going to work, you idiot," said Kellum as he shoved the boy's arm aside. Bringing up his inventory screen, he explained. "I'm a nurse in the real world… if this game is really going for realism, you're going to end up infecting his wound. I picked up a medical kit from the general store before we left,; it's not much but I suspect it'll do the trick."

"Well, he's still not hit the red zone," Kaka muttered under his breath as he headed away from the man, not wanting to get in the way.

"That's not going to last for long," scowled Rouge, the girl who had been leading Darius' group before they all joined together.

"Here we go; I'll bandage it up. Apparently they've got healing properties, but this wound looks pretty nasty. It'll stop the bleeding, and if we're really lucky, it'll get rid of any poison which might be inside," said Kellum as he tossed his shield to the side in favour of the bandages he had summoned. Hunching over, the defensively-built player lifted Raynor's shirt so that the wound was visible in its entirety. He bandaged it carefully before sitting up and patting the man on the arm. "You should be alright now. Maybe you should hang out at the middle until we reach the next town, though."

Ino curiously turned her eyes towards Raynor's health bar, glad to see that it had ceased its decline, before her mouth widened in surprise when she noticed him gain a small portion of his health back.

"Hey, you're almost exactly at half health," said Kaka as he offered the man a hand. What he didn't say was that he was glad that he'd chosen to lag behind; he wasn't sure if he would've been able to take the hit like Raynor had. That and he wasn't complaining about the fact that he was not the half-dead, or the dead, one.

"If you hadn't decided to run back with your tail between your legs, you can bet you'd be in a similar situation," said Raynor with a shake of his head, taking the offered hand, before his gaze hardened. "Darius probably wouldn't be dead either."

"It was bound to happen sooner or later," said Steiner bluntly. "Someone was inevitably going to die, and more of us still probably are!"

"There's no need to be so gloomy about all this," said Asuna, speaking up for the first time as she sighed. "So do we continue on?"

"Yeah," Kaka said as he looked around, receiving a few nods, specifically one from Raynor. "I

think we're all good here now."

"As long as Kaka sticks up at the front, we should be fine. Probably throw Rouge up the front as well to try and make up for Darius," said Raynor. "How's the back holding up?"

"Pretty well," said Ino as she looked to the ground. She didn't understand how everyone seemed to be brushing the boy's death off as though it was nothing. The girl hadn't known the boy personally, but from the way Steiner and Rouge were acting, she was willing to wager that they had.

"We came across a nepent or two that you guys managed to miss," said Zi as he stuck his thumb backwards, pointing towards the direction from which they had come. "Made for good experience, but I doubt it'll have made much of a difference since we're all in a massive party."

"Raynor, did you look at the wolf's level?" asked Rouge curiously. "For the amount of trouble it gave you, it must have been level nine, but I didn't even reach level five from the experience it gave off."

"Yeah, level eight. I threw everything into my first shot, but the thing would have probably killed me if it wasn't for Darius. Poor kid didn't deserve to be ripped to shreds by the bloody thing; he sacrificed himself trying to help me," said Raynor as he spat out the last of the blood from his mouth, slinging his kite shield across his back. It had been a mistake to charge in alone, it wasn't the first time that he ended up half dead because of it.

...

"I said give it to me, kid, we need that key."

"I'm not giving it to you, you bully!"

"What's going on here?" asked Taylor as he walked on to the scene. His seemingly mindless plod through the virtual streets had been disrupted by this scene where two older teenagers - again he couldn't quite figure out their age but he hazarded a guess around the seventeen mark - were ganging up on a small boy, clearly wanting something that he had. By no means was that right, and he was going to do something about it.

"This kid got to a once-a-week quest before us, and we need the key he's got to do the quest ourselves," explained one of the teenagers, his explanation telling Taylor that the teenager was a Beta player.

"Can't you just wait a week?" asked Taylor, trying to be reasonable.

"A week? If we don't get the rewards this mission provides then we may be dead in a week," said the second one. Taylor was able to read into what was going on with the interactions between the two players. He hazarded a guess that while one was a Beta and the other was not but one thing was certain between the two of them.

They were scared.

"Kid, can I have a look at that key of yours?" asked Taylor turning his attention to the child nearby. He figured there were hundreds of children just like this kid, and in hindsight, it would have been nice if there had been age restrictions on who could have played.

"No, you'll just steal it," said the kid defensively.

"Kid, I just want to check a couple things out is all," explained Taylor. Seconds ticked by before reluctantly the child passed the item to Taylor, seeming to trust him more than the two teenagers who had been harassing him earlier. "Just as I thought."

"Wait, what?" asked one of the teens as he looked at Taylor in confusion.

"What do you know about this quest?" asked Taylor looking at the Beta player.

"The quest asks that a player or group of players watch over some guys stuff while he does some shopping," explained the teenager as if it was common knowledge.

"Is there a level recommendation?"

"Level four or over, something this kid definitely isn't," said the other one as they turned their attention back on the brown-haired child once again.

"Yeah, that may have been what the recommendation was during the Beta, but things have changed," said Taylor as he looked at the statistics that came with the key. "Firstly, the durability of the item is only an hour after the quest has been accepted."

"An hour? Shit, it's been twenty minutes already!"

"Give us the key already. We're the recommended level; we can take it."

"You're not," said Taylor calmly, causing both the teens to slow down their train of thought. "The quest may have been for level four people during the Beta phase, but the difficulty of the quest has changed. It says here that it is recommended that players be at least level seven before taking on the quest."

"Level seven!" exclaimed the Beta player, wondering what had changed with the quest in order to deserve such a boost in difficulty.

"If you guys still want to take the key, by all means, but since it has to be used in half an hour, you're going to be a bit screwed to level up in time," said Taylor. "Only if you're sure that you're not going to die, I say wait a week and take the quest then."

Both of the teenagers were silent as they looked up at Taylor. While the Beta seemed somewhat keen in his abilities to get through the dungeon outright, it was clear that he was concerned about his friend. The impending possibility of watching his friend die was weighing heavily over his head, and it was clear that this was not something he wanted bearing down on his shoulders. "Fine," he said eventually, patting his friend on the shoulder. "Come on mate, let's bail."

"You sure?" asked the friend, but he received no answer as the Beta player began to walk away, so he quickly followed in order to not get left behind.

"That was amazing," said the kid in awe as he looked up at his hero.

"It was nothing," said Taylor. "You got friends, family anywhere in here?"

"My brother's around here somewhere," said the boy.

"Go find him and make sure you don't leave the city," said Taylor before he began to walk off. "Keep safe."

"I will," shouted the kid as he ran off to find his family, completely forgetting about the key that Taylor had in his possession. Once he was out of sight of anybody involved, Taylor let out a sigh of relief that his bluff had worked. The Beta player's information had been spot on, but thankfully the teen didn't know that, and as a result, Taylor now had a quest to go and complete.

The walk to the quest location, however, gave him time to think once more. Had he really just saved a couple of lives by lying to them about the level of the quest, or had he done so for greedy purposes? They did have a good point in that stronger equipment was needed to survive the game, but had he just robbed two players of treasures that he would take for himself, provided he survived the quest first?

That was the other thing he had to consider with this quest and any quest in general. Just because the quest came with a recommended level didn't mean that it would be easy by any means. There were no checkpoints, no respawn points; this was a fight to the end and he had to be on guard at any given time. Standing in line for days on end to get a copy of the game no longer seemed worth it, but the more he thought about it, he had to question just how good his life outside this virtual world was.

He was single, had been through more jobs than he could count, and had completed a university degree that he was unable to use in the field, currently working for a company he didn't like. Hell, even when people conversed with him, they couldn't figure out which country he was from as his accent wasn't even an accent. It was as if he didn't have a country to call his own.

What did he have to go back to?

Running his fingers through his hair, Taylor became startled as a pop up screen appeared in front of him, informing him that he had reached the intended destination for the quest. Seemed luck had been on his side as he hadn't actually known where the quest was taking place or that he had been walking in the right direction. Whether it had been good luck or bad luck was still up in the air.

Gripping the key tightly between his fingers, Taylor steeled his nerves as he walked to the door and began the quest, hoping that the risk was worth the reward.

...

Kaka frowned as he swung his sword wildly, as if he were daring any of the creatures surrounding him to come closer. It had been a very rough night so far, but the group - or at least what was left of it - was looking all the better for it. That was, when they weren't surrounded by an assortment of wild boars, Nepents, and the occasional wolf.

As soon as shit hit the fan, he had instructed Raynor to hang out between Steiner and Kellum - the group's two tanks - but he hadn't seen either of them in the past half an hour. Though it didn't make too much of a difference to him either way, Raynor was probably the last one he wanted dead in the whole group as he had known him the longest. Having seen someone _die_ before his eyes as he watched on even more helpless than last time had changed his opinion on the matter ever so slightly; though he didn't want to admit it, Rouge's death was all on him.

The group had literally been overrun by a swarm of the three creatures, and Kaka could confidently say that he had bitten off more than he could chew. Upon seeing the ridiculous amount of creatures, he had stupidly opted to dive straight in and kill as many of them as he could. That had worked at first, and he had even levelled up once or twice because of his decision, but now he was growing tired and his health was also falling. Not only was he nearing the red zone, but the ache he felt all throughout his body was making every movement increasingly sluggish. The teenager supposed that it was a good thing that there were so many of the weaker creatures around, like the boars. They were now easy enough to avoid and kill, and kept the more dangerous creatures at bay.

He was still cautious everytime he attacked a nepent, though. One type of subspecies spawned other nepents when it was killed, and he had learned how dangerous that was the hard way.

Kaka heard a pained grunt which he soon recognised as Ino's voice coming from the right of him. He was willing to bet that at this rate, the various monsters would outlast him, and so he figured it was time to regroup. They had covered a fair amount of distance so far, so the town couldn't be all that far away, and if they all got together again, he was sure they could make a break for it without too many casualties. Kaka would just have to make sure he wasn't one of them.

Raising his weapon and activating a sword skill, he swung his blade down upon the nearest boar and slowly made his way towards the girl. His right arm lazily swung out to the right as the sword enclosed within his grasp decapitated the head of a nepent, the despawning creature leaving just enough room for him to move into in order to avoid the boar about the bite into his right calf.

A wolf came out of nowhere and clawed at his chest, ripping the fabric that covered it with ease, but Kaka managed to raise his sword and deny the virtual animal its pounce by pushing it off. Acutely aware of the boar that had attempted to go after him moments ago, Kaka spun around on one foot and smashed the edge of his blade into the growling animal. It, like the countless other enemy creatures they had encountered before it, disappeared into a shower of red crystals that Kaka had only just gotten used seeing.

He panted heavily, wiping the sweat off his forehead with an even grimier hand, before looking around him. The wolf, the one that had attacked him not even a minute ago, was a few metres back, hunched aggressively on all fours. Kaka had only managed to kill two of the creatures so far and his health was dangerously low because of it. It was on the lower side of yellow now, and he was willing to bet that if a boar even so much as _breathed_ on him, it would fall into the red territory.

He unsteadily held his blade before him as he prepared to fend off the wolf once more. If the fact that he could no longer hear anyone else in the group worried him, Kaka did not let it show on his determined face. The teenager was tempted to try and go in for the kill, but the knowledge that there were a dozen other creatures just waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike was the only thing that kept him at bay.

...

Raynor grunted as what felt like a million matches being lit burnt inside his muscle fibres as he batted away another nepent with his hammer. He had gotten himself separated from the group after tagging along with Kellum and Steiner. Now the three tanks were stuck in a defensive battle with what seemed like a horde of never-ending monsters. The wound to Raynor's abdomen had healed for the most bit, but he had managed to gain a few more since one of the slobbering dire wolves had taken a liking to his face. Sweat was pouring into the cut on his head and mixing with the small amount of blood attempting to clot around it, causing him to wince every time wind blew into the wound - something so realistic that he could not have even fathomed it being implemented into the game. Kellum and Steiner weren't holding up any better; Kellum had run through all of his health kits and Steiner appeared to have dislocated his weapon shoulder.

With his breathing haggard and the toll of continuously swinging his weapon becoming more apparent, Raynor could feel hopelessness overcoming him as yet another direwolf sank its teeth into his shield. Feeling the beast's hot breath on his face, Raynor swung his shield outwards, throwing the beast free of him. The wolf, not to be put off, prowled in front of the trio before lunging, this time for Steiner. The adolescent helplessly tried to force his dislocated spear arm into action, yet he couldn't muster enough strength to complete the action and winced in pain as the joint refused to move. And then - Raynor watched with horrified eyes - the beast was upon him. It had latched its slobbering jaw right onto his jugular, caking the inside of the creature's mouth a deep claret. It only had hold for a second before Raynor imbued his hammer with the red glow of his weapon skill, and brought it down on the creature's back, crippling it a moment too late.

Steiner could but watch this as he struggled desperately for air, the wound gurgling air pockets every time he tried to draw breath. Helplessly he clawed at the wound trying to staunch the bleed but it was for nought; Steiner's health points were declining rapidly. In an instant he went from yellow to red and then to a panicked flashing red as the life ebbed out of him before he burst into millions of crystal pixels. The only trace of him was floating around in the air.

Kellum was still in shock when Raynor spoke up.

"How are your legs? Can you still walk?" asked Raynor struggling to talk.

"They're fine, but my friend is dead... dead and gone and I just watched. I just stood by and watched another person die," said Kellum beginning to bawl as he slumped to the ground.

"So did I. Hell, I was even a major contributor to it. But we can't stand here and cry. We have to push on, stand up on your own two feet and carry onwards. We're still alive," said Raynor trying to rouse his comrade.

"Nah, I just want to stay here a while and rest," said Kellum painedly.

"Like all hell! You're coming with me even if I have to drag you," spat Raynor, grabbing the young tank by the back of his shirt and pulling him further unto the wilderness. After having the deaths of two young kids on his head, he was not about to lose another.

…

Taylor's body slammed against the wooden floorboards painfully before he rolled out of the way to avoid the punch that was sailing towards where his head had been only moments before. "Level four my ass," he muttered before uttering a string of curses to which his opponent paid no attention. Only a minute after having begun the mission he had found himself in a difficult scenario being outnumbered with no clear way to take on his enemies. Shortly after having entered the building he was swiftly followed by a group of NPCs wearing rags as opposed to clothes and their opening monologue made it painfully obvious they were there to steal something of value.

Theoretically this was a mission meant to be taken by a party as opposed to a single player. There were three thieves in total, and they had no remorse in throwing whatever they could get their hands on at Taylor, his glaive having been snapped in half by a chair he had had to block - having not paid any attention to how much damage the weapon had taken over the previous day. With his weapon gone, Taylor had little to defend himself with as his health points continued a steady stream downwards. Ducking for cover, he scoured his inventory and retrieved one of his few health potions, drinking it quickly and happily watching as his health bar began to climb back into the green once again. It dropped sharply again, however, as a vase connected with the side of his head before bursting into a thousand blue shards that vanished from existence.

"How is that even fair!" shouted Taylor in aggravation before picking up a saucer on the ground and hurling it like a frisbee through the air, catching one of the men in the stomach.

"Hey, that's not fair," said the NPC as they clutched the wound on their chest, making Taylor blink a couple of times at the words that had been programmed into the virtual player. Ducking underneath a cup that broke a picture frame behind him, Taylor swiftly made his way over to a cupboard, ripping the door open and pulling out the pots and pans inside. Without hesitation he started lobbing them at all three of the invaders who took cover as more and more projectiles were sent their way.

"Quit it!"

"Stop that!"

"Why would you do that?"

Their pleas only made Taylor more vicious with his attacks as he slowly realised that the key that started this mission wasn't so much to stand guard but rather to protect the house from these thieves by any means necessary. To what point and purpose it didn't matter, because by the way the NPCs were acting, he didn't even need to kill them in order to complete the quest. As he threw a decorated plate he figured that this was one of those situations where listening to the speech the quest-giver gave would have been of great knowledge. While the key had given him details on how difficult the quest actually was, it didn't tell him what was required in the quest, something which he now regretted.

Scrambling for whatever he could find, his hand stopped mid-throw as he realised he had grabbed hold of a bottle of wine. Looking up to see that the thieves were still cowering he quickly opened his inventory and deposited the bottle inside for later use; no point spilling good wine after all. As soon as his task was complete he resumed his reckless projectile assault until it seemed as if the NPCs had reached their limit.

"C'mon guys, let's get out of here," shouted the supposed leader as he ran towards the door, quickly followed by his two lackies. When the coast was finally clear, Taylor allowed himself to exhale a breath he hadn't known that he had been holding.

"What happened to my house!"

It seemed, however, that Taylor wasn't out of hot water yet as he stood upright and looked the owner of the house in the eyes. "I can explain," he said slowly, hoping not to accidentally start a fight with another NPC.

"They didn't get their hands on the weapon did they?" asked the NPC seriously.

"...No..." said Taylor hoping that he was telling the truth. While ducking for cover every few seconds, he hadn't been able to see whether or not any of the other thieves had actually found something of value.

"Good, but that weapon's caused me nothing but trouble since I got it. You know what? Why don't you take it."

"...Okay..." said Taylor as the NPC began to walk through the current mess of a room and make his way to wherever this weapon was kept. Considering that the Beta player from before had apparently known what this weapon was beforehand, it was a fairly safe assumption that it was something good, especially after all the shit he had gone through. His soul would never have been able to rest easy knowing that he had died by having been hit in the head with a teacup.

"Here it is," said the house owner as he returned. "Take it and use it. Show people that I don't have the bloody thing anymore."

As Taylor saw the weapon he couldn't really understand why everybody wanted to get their hands on it. "Does it have a name?" he asked as he was given the weapon.

"Sure does," said the man as Taylor used his limited resources to inspect just what the weapon did, his eyes going wide as he examined the bonuses he would receive for using the weapon. "It's called the Oak Hoarder."

…

With a strong, two-handed thrust, Ino shoved the tip of her kodachi into the last boar's neck. Her chest was heaving from battling the near constant onslaught of beasts. Both Asuna and Zi were working a great deal harder than she was, but she couldn't help it. As of right now, she was halfway between level four and five, with most of her points going to speed. Direwolves would make an easy meal of her, and she couldn't face a nepent alone very well. She allowed her head to drop and fought back a tear.

"Hey! What are you doing just standing there?" Zi called out. "Come on, Ino, we're almost out of here. There'll be time to mourn later. Ya gotta keep it together just a little longer alright? We're almost out!" Zi shouted before slicing through an attacking wolf.

"You too, Asuna! Stay sharp over there!" Zi commanded. He had to stay strong for his comrades even if he wasn't so sure of the situation himself. He knew from experience that it was better to stay positive in a bad situation than to let it overcome you and succumb to the darkness.

Zi would never have described himself as a popular person in the real world. He was more of a loner who was able to make pseudo-friends with people he would never come face-to-face with. Online games were his outlet for a boring life in which he had little drive and passion. He knew what it was like to be lonely in public. He wasn't close to family and friends moved on or moved away. But video games allowed him to make friends with people who wouldn't judge him on anything besides his voice and how well he could game.

There had never been anything special about him. He'd never thought that he could be anything he wanted like most kids were tricked into believing. He was pessimist. If anything had a chance to turn bad, he believed it would. He lived by Murphy's Law and therefore took little chances in life. He never took a leap of faith which led to little opportunity. His life was boring and he hated it. He hated himself for the most part.

But this game, this _impossible_ game, of life and death, was forcing him to take that jump. Akihiko Kayaba gave him the subtle push he needed to take control of his life. And he promised himself that when he finally made it out of this game, he was going to live a better life. He would go back to school and make a name for himself. He wasn't going to let anyone down anymore.

He huffed with anger as his blade split a wolf that tried to sneak up on him. He quickly turned his head left and right looking for Ino and Asuna to make sure they were still alright. He most definitely wasn't going to let them down. Not here, not now, not ever.

"Come on guys, we just need to push ourselves a little farther. I can almost see the entrance to the next village," Zi announced, hoping he was able to keep his squad motivated.

From the far right side of their self-appointed squad leader, Ino quickly dodged an oncoming wolf with the flexibility and range of motion only someone as short and thin as her could muster, her earlier disheartened emotions gone at the knowledge of eminent safety.

"Right behind you, Zi!" she called to the back of the older man's head before she turned to check on Asuna. "How're you holding up back there?

Asuna quickly caught up with the group and placed a reassuring hand on Ino's shoulder. She didn't speak much, but she was pretty reliable when it came to carrying her own weight.

Zi nodded back at his two teammates and signaled with two fingers to keep moving forward as they slowly made their way towards the edge of the forest. With his left hand he gently massaged the bridge of his nose and took his glasses off, uncovering his hazel eyes to the digital sun. He took a deep breath and sighed while wiping his arm across his forehead.

"Ha… we made it. And it looks like we're not the only one's." He tried to sound more optimistic about the situation, but it didn't look like a very successful mission. There was a lack of bodies standing in waiting. It seemed like their group was the only one to make it out with everyone still alive. He knew it wasn't much to cheer about, but he knew it could have been worse.

"Where are the others?" Ino knew she was being naive, but it was the only way she could stomach asking. Her face was most assuredly pale, and she saw Zi looking at her curiously from the corner of her eye.

Death had always terrified her.

"Uhh, I'm sure they're just lagging behind a bit. We had a strong bunch of guys, I'm sure they'll be out soon enough." He knew it to be a lie, but what other options did he have?

For a moment, Ino was silent, unsure whether to be offended or relieved. In the real world, she'd have no problem in voicing her opinion about being so blatantly lied to; however, this wasn't the real world, and going on a tirade about something so trivial wouldn't help her now.

"There's no need to sugarcoat it, Zi." Her voice sounded small as she whispered, "I'm old enough to handle death…" It wasn't completely true. How old was old enough to handle the demise of another? Especially in this game. Here, it was a slap in the face. Here it was mocking them, reminding them of their Super Sudden-Death scenario.

Zi felt a tinge of guilt hearing this. He didn't know what else to say. What could he say? He knew they were dead and they weren't coming back. There was no respawning in this game. Once you die, that's it.

"I… I'm sorry. I guess I'm still just not used to this whole death game yet. Forgive me?" Zi asked, hoping he wasn't upsetting Ino. She was the closest thing he had to a friend in this place.

Ino looked up at Zi, her eyes were dull and her shoulders slack from the grueling trek to the town. But when a person was asking for forgiveness, you didn't deny them if you didn't have good reason. A smile creeped across her lips.

"I'm sorry for being cynical. I was being ignorant and I basically asked for it. You were just trying to be optimistic…" She giggled a bit before stepping up and wrapping her arms around his waist. Her head barely reached his chin but she didn't care. "Thanks for being so cool!"

Zi was taken aback by the sudden embrace and on instinct hugged the shorter girl back. There was no physical warmth in their contact, but the embrace itself was enough. Zi had never been really good at taking compliments since modesty wasn't his strongest point, but he was going to have to try his best to change that. This second chance was a time for him to change for the better.

"Hey, don't worry about it. We're co-"

The wide smile on Ino's face turned instantly into a look of sheer horror. Her arms folded inward in response to the sudden lack of presence as the shimmery pixels floated upwards and around her head. Suddenly, the world around her froze and she was very aware of the empty shock that was echoing in her chest.

The little glimmers of light became almost blinding as salty tears pricked at her eyes. Slowly, her knees gave way to her dead weight and she sunk to the cobblestone ground. Her partner, her companion-no, her friend, was gone. How? Why?

A jolt hit her and she found herself gasping and floundering on her very breath. Her stomach clenched and she let out a horrendous wail. One hand found the hair on her left temple and fisted in it, and the other covered her mouth to muffle the sobs.

…

**This chapter was brought to you by Razamataz22, Kakarot Son, DevilsDoCry. **

**Guest appearances from former TDS members: Zi-Dawg and Borderlined Innocence. **

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**We hope you enjoyed.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: We do not own SAO**

**This chapter was brought to you by Razamataz22, DevilsDoCry, Kakarot Son and Borderlined Innocence.**

**...**

(December 6, 2022, one month after launch day)

Two-thousand was a large number by any means of counting. For it to be tallying the number of players who had perished within the virtual world though... that was enough to crush

anybody's spirit. One fifth of the people who had stood in line for days on end in order to grab one of the few copies distributed had found themselves killed by the thing they had merely wanted to enjoy.

The only real positive thing out of the information was that the rate of deaths had decreased dramatically. The first week had claimed over a thousand people alone, mostly those who couldn't stand to live within the virtual realm, either from missing loved ones on the outside or going stir-crazy. The more frequent deaths now were of those who had gotten sick of living within this realm and were desperate to get out, throwing caution to the wind as they devised every plan imaginable to beat the game in as little time as possible. The results had not been forgiving, and even those who had survived were now worried by the fact that the dungeon of the first level had yet to be found despite people looking all over for it.

That though had just changed.

"Thank you all for coming," announced Diavel before introducing himself and creating a light joke in order to break the ice. Taylor paid it little attention, however, as he sat within the semi-circular seating arrangement. The place itself seemed like it would be well suited to hold a theatrical piece of some kind. Those who had gathered weren't here for a rendition of a Shakespearean play as there was something else at stake. "We found the boss dungeon."

Anybody who had only been paying half attention beforehand now had every sense tuned in to Diavel as he went into detail about how he and his party had discovered the entrance only the previous day, and how he was planning an attack on it with all those present. "If I may," said Taylor as he stood up causing all eyes to fall on him.

"By all means, if you have something to say then say it," stated Diavel, happy to hear all opinions.

"I request that those who wish to join on this raid be subject to a level cap," said Taylor causing many people to whisper amongst themselves.

"A level cap?" repeated Diavel.

"Even though you mentioned in your little speech that we here are the elite as it were, I recommend enforcing a rule that prevents anybody below a certain level to take part in the boss fight," said Taylor causing more whispers. "Too many people have died already, and even though all of us here have proven our worth by making it this far, not everybody is capable of tackling on a boss when we have little to no idea what is coming our way. Putting it basically, I want only the elite of the elite to step forward and take on this challenge. You can take my words anyway you see fit, and ultimately, since you have nominated yourself as our leader, it is your decision on who stays and who goes."

"I thank you for your words and you do bring up some valid points," commented Diavel as Taylor took his seat once again. "The one thing we want out of this is for there to be zero deaths, and while I will not enforce a level cap, I will recommend that those who wish to join the cause be at least level fifteen."

Taylor allowed a small smile to grace his lips at that. This guy seemed to have a relatively good head on his shoulders and would likely one day lead a guild to greatness. The level he had given was also reasonably acceptable. After level ten it had become increasingly difficult to gain levels, the amount of experience needed to advance to the double digit figures was equal to the amount needed for every level before that. That, however, seemed like a cakewalk compared to the later amounts, Taylor having spent a week of solid grinding in order to reach his current level. Hopefully the enemies on future floors would give greater amounts of experience, as at the current rate he feared he would be getting nowhere fast.

As some other guy took centre stage shouting about how unfair Beta players were or something, Taylor zoned out completely and took this time to think over the last month. He hadn't been unplugged, so he was fairly certain he was now safe from that ever happening, and the damage he took from the enemies on this floor were more of an annoyance than anything. Having learned that his weapons and armour deteriorated over time and would eventually be destroyed if he didn't have them repaired every once in a while, he'd made that a daily priority.

"You alright there?" asked a new person from down the ring, the speeches all but over. "You missed out on joining a party. I thought you were asleep for a moment."

"Maybe," said Taylor as he ran his fingers through his hair, slightly disappointed that despite having been trapped inside for so long, his hair hadn't changed in length at all since he got here. Likely on a different level a barber would open up, and he'd have to pay in order to get his style changed. It was ironic that something so simple and mundane took so much effort to get.

"You with me?" asked the man as he snapped his fingers twice.

"Sorry, zoned out," said Taylor as he waved and got to his feet, stretching his back as he did so, several vertebrae cracking from the pressure.

"Clearly," said the man, unimpressed. "I was saying that you need to join a party to be a part of the raid."

"Party… right..."

"You don't have a party, do you?"

"Me and people tend to not get along," clarified Taylor sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Bit hard to believe with that speech of yours," said the man as Taylor stepped down to be on level ground, only just realising how big he was. "Since you probably didn't get my name earlier, it's Agil."

"Taylor," he stated as the two of them shook hands.

"You seem like you've got a good head on your shoulders."

"University does that to ya," said Taylor with a shrug. "My degree may not do much in here, but at least I got some kind of knowledge to back up the shit I say."

"Somehow I don't think you're much of a talker," said Agil placing a hand on his hip. "The way you act as well when you should be listening tells me also that you didn't get your honors."

"I passed," Taylor commented whilst shrugging his shoulders. "Doesn't mean shit now."

"It will when we get out of here," said Diavel as he joined in on the conversation. "Keep positive. Once we clear this level we'll be on our way to freedom."

"Freedom..." repeated Taylor, visibly deflating which caused Diavel and Agil to look at one another, but before they could say anything he perked back up again. "Well, one down, ninety-nine to go."

"Good," said Diavel as he patted Taylor on the shoulder. "We've got a strategy meeting going on shortly. We'll need to know what type of fighter you are and put you in a good role."

"I can roam," said Taylor putting Diavel on the back foot for a moment. "Help out wherever I can and help any team that looks like it's struggling."

"You know that would put you in the most danger."

"I know," stated Taylor, his eyes hardening with every word. "Nobody will die during the boss fight."

"That's what I want to hear," said Diavel cheerfully. "So what kind of weapon do you use? Hammer, sword and shield, or are you a spear user?"

"None of the above," said Taylor with a cheeky smirk over his face. "I'll tell you later. You've got a meeting or something to hold now, right?"

"Right you are, and considering you pretty much slept after your little speech, there's a lot to fill you in on."

Taylor suddenly felt as if he was back in one of his media lectures, and even though the information would likely be of grave importance, chances were that it was going to go straight through one ear and out the other. He never really could pay attention to important meetings, and he doubted that that was going to change anytime soon.

...

Raynor frowned as the message flashed in his inbox. _'To all capable players, meet me at the coliseum plaza at midday today. Boss room found, in need of large party. Diavel.'_The message made Raynor feel slightly uneasy. Two-thousand people had been killed in the past month, and not all of the deaths were accounted to the creatures in the game. Gangs of players were starting to form, solely intent on robbing others of equipment or Col, and even going as far as to murder people. One such gang was Laughing Coffin. Within the first week of the game they had established themselves as a group of sadists who would send out messages to other players with the details of supposed boss rooms or creatures with rare drops, only to then murder them when they arrived at the location.

The invite had said that the meeting was taking place in the plaza in the centre of town, yet this didn't make Raynor feel any better. Even though player killing wasn't allowed inside the boundaries of the town, every game was open to exploits, and it would only be a matter of time before this rule wouldn't apply anymore.

"So thinking of going for it?" said Kellum looking at the message in his own inbox.

"Yeah, but we're taking precautions. Full armour. It might be a proper meeting, it might be a trap, either way I'm not letting one of the fuckers slot me," said Raynor.

"Your rather irritable today. What's wrong, run out of that chewable death?" questioned Kellum, lazily flicking through his equipment screen.

"One, I'm not irritable, and two, yes I have run out of my tobacco. I spent my last Col on some decent smithing material. I sleep better at night knowing I'm wearing decent steel," said Raynor, equipping his freshly smithed armour set.

"You could have saved some Col and not bought the face guard. It doesn't even cover your face. All they have to do is bludgeon you anywhere above the jaw and you're a goner,"

"Well excuse me, Mr. Medieval. I will remind you of my reasons when you're sweating buckets and can't see out of that slit you call a visor," shot back Raynor.

The pair continued to squabble as they made their way to the plaza. Over the last month, Kellum and Raynor had remained partied up. After Raynor had dragged Kellum all the way from the open fields to Tolbana, Raynor had slept for what felt like a week. The duo had spent most of their time clearing the surrounding area's dungeon, trying in vain to find the boss room. When they weren't looking for the boss room, they were escorting players from the City of Beginnings to Tolbana. It had accrued them a small amount of Col and experience, but it felt good that they were spending their time doing something more worthwhile than dungeon crawling.

Raynor could hear someone's voice echoing as they made their way into the colosseum. Instead of joining the vast amount of players sat in the theatre, Raynor leaned lazily on one of the demolished pillars to the back of the arena.

"So what do you make of it?" asked Kellum listening intently on whomever was speaking.

"Same shtick as normal: keep on hitting the thing until it dies, and if it doesn't, hit it some more. Come on the guy's a teenager, not some master strategist. He'll most likely go for the simplest option if he has any sense. High level tanks soaking up damage mixed in with similar level damage-dealers, while the lower level players deal with anything that spawns, possibly keep a few strong players in reserve to sweep around solo in case any of the weaker groups get in trouble," said Raynor cooly.

"Sounds like you've done this sort of thing before," said Kellum.

"Basic crowd control. Keep a strong line with backup close to either reinforce the line or deal with anything that gets through," replied Raynor.

"So what are you back in the real world? Police? Military? Security?" quizzed Kellum.

"I'm one branch on the tree of law enforcement and that's as much as I'm telling," said Raynor, cutting the conversation short.

Raynor went back to listening in on what this Diavel had to say, and it wasn't long before he himself was cut short by a familiar face. 'So the mopey fucker hasn't kicked the bucket yet,' thought Raynor as he began to listen in a bit more intently. For all his faults he had never known Taylor to come up with a stupid idea, despite the fact they had only conversed on a handful of occasions, and the level cap he had proposed proved this. Instead of worrying about weaker players, the group as whole could concentrate on effectively taking down the boss, Taylor had begun conversing with Diavel and two other players before Raynor spoke up himself.

"A level cap is all well and good, but do we have any idea what we're fighting? I can't imagine that we swing back the dungeon doors and find a gaggle of frolicking unicorns and teddy bears."

Raynor could see the look of surprise in Taylor's eyes as he turned and smirked at the imposing tank. Moving away from the column Raynor trudged down the stairs to meet his friend . Diavel's eyes seemed to light up as he saw the figure of Raynor draw closer to him. Standing at well over six-feet tall, and even though he had adorned himself with cobbled together pieces of armour, he was still an intimidating sight. Raynor had to look down to lock eyes with the blue-haired teen. Diavel seemed to stumble over his words before answering.

"I… Ilfang, the Kobold Lord is the name of floor one's boss," stuttered the teen. "It attacks with an axe and buckler, and also spawns minions. When its health reaches its final stage, it will change to a talwar which has a significantly longer reach and higher damage,"

"What I suggest is that we split up into multiple groups of three. Any available tanks will be placed on the frontline to deal with Ilfang's attacks. Our higher level attackers will group up with these tanks and switch out when the tanks have him staggered. All of our lower level players will deal with the minions that spawn, and any of you solo players out there will be acting as sweepers, mopping up any minions that evade our lower level groups and help out the ones that are struggling," finished Diavel signalling for attention again.

"Everyone below level fifteen stand to my left, everyone above to my right," gestured Diavel.

As people began shuffling around, some wondering whether they should lie about their level in order to be considered in the elite, Raynor, Kellum, and Taylor remained in position. The trio of reunited players looked at each other in turn; it had been a month since Raynor had last seen Taylor's level, and to the best of his knowledge, he had been level eight at the time. But since then the glaive-user had been soloing the floor on his own. Raynor was curious but dared not ask how far ahead of him he had progressed. He couldn't process if what he was feeling was giddiness or dread.

"So I see you've got some better gear since last we met. Not many players run round with hammers, but that's one of the first unique ones I've seen," said Taylor, gesturing to the ornate hammer strapped to Raynor's belt.

"Drop from one of the field bosses, Grandkappa. Ugliest thing I've seen on this floor so far. We got a tip from someone that it drops a weapon relevant to your class when it's killed," smiled Raynor inspecting the weapon. "If I remember rightly from history class, it looks like a type,of maul," remarked Raynor, wondering where that piece of information had been residing in his mind.

"Seventeen," said Taylor rather stoically.

"Beg pardon?" asked Raynor.

"You were never one for idle chat when we were all briefly together. To cut some of the meaningless chitchat I'm just going to go out and say that my level is seventeen," replied Taylor as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"Well... looks like I managed to catch up to you, lone wolf," gloated Raynor as he walked to Diavel's right. He was finally starting to make some progress.

"Lone wolf, huh?" repeated Taylor, smiling at the title that Raynor had given him while moving over to where Diavel had instructed. With him and Raynor fighting alongside one another things were going to be interesting to say the least.

…

"_The one thing we want out of this is for there to be zero deaths, and while I will not enforce a level cap, I will recommend that those who wish to join the cause be at least level fifteen."_

Kaka punched the ground angrily. He felt extremely conflicted, and he wasn't sure what the best path for him to pursue was. At level thirteen, he knew he fell a fair bit below the suggested level, so much so that that bastard, Taylor, had even recommended that he avoid participating in the mission, but if the teenager didn't go on the mission, he felt that he would fall prey to his biggest fear in this virtual world: being left behind.

If the little group that was going to tackle the first boss were successful in their endeavour, the gap between himself and the game's strongest players would only grow further. Kaka had played games casually before he had gotten stuck in this little hell hole, but he had no doubt that a boss would yield a lot more experience than some stupid nepent. From there, the same group would be more adequately prepared to clear the _next_ level, while he would still be playing catch up. And he would have no generous share of experience that would inevitably come from defeating a boss.

Then there was the other side of the coin. If he stayed behind, he wouldn't be putting himself at risk. Though the cost of that - namely experience - was not small, it definitely beat being dead. Nobody, with the possible exception of the mysterious "beta testers", had run into a boss in Sword Art Online before, so who knew how truly difficult the mission would be?

"I was wondering when I'd run into you again," said Taylor, surprising Kaka as he made an appearance. Before the younger of the two could say anything, Taylor spoke again, quickly shutting Kaka up. "From the little hissy fit you were throwing a moment ago, I take it you're wondering whether or not you want to take on the boss."

"It wasn't a hissy fit," said Kaka before composing himself, not wanting to look too childish in front of one of the players within this world who he actually held some manner of respect for. While it could be said that he hated him for simply bailing on him and Raynor when they needed him weeks earlier, his strength was nothing to laugh at. Now though, after weeks of grinding on end, he was not going to be left behind by Taylor again. "I'll prove to you that I'm strong enough to join the fight, even if I'm not above your stupid level cap."

Taylor couldn't help but be thankful that Kaka was still somewhat cheery despite having an odd way of portraying happiness. It didn't take long before Kaka scrolled through the menu screen in front of him, and Taylor patiently waited for a duel request to be sent his way. So he waited… and waited… and waited.

"Is everything alright?"

"Where the hell's your name? I can't find it anywhere on the list of nearby players," shouted Kaka in frustration, his anger growing with every passing second as said nearby players looked at him curiously. His humiliation only grew as Taylor burst into fits of laughter. "Stop laughing!"

"Sorry mate, my bad," apologised Taylor as he calmed down. "Look for Razamataz."

"Razamataz?" repeated Kaka before doing as he was told, quickly finding the name and sending the challenge. As he watched Taylor access the screen that appeared in front of him, Kaka couldn't help but wonder just why Taylor had chosen to abandon his username for what he could only assume was his real name. These thoughts were quickly pushed to the side, though, as the terms for the fight were set.

"You good with knocking your opponent into the orange?"

"Pfft, easy as," said Kaka with an edge of cockiness in his voice as he equipped his weapon. Despite still being on the first floor, Kaka had managed to gather equipment that far surpassed what he was given to start with. With the extra Col he had gotten from small quests and the occasional grinding session, he had decked himself out with the best stuff he could purchase before spending leftovers on having his gear upgraded.

Steel plating covered his upper torso and having had it upgraded three times meant that it could take a substantial amount of damage without reducing the durability. He had left his legs covered with leather armour as he felt that wearing heavy armour on his legs would encumber him too much and deprive him of some much needed speed - Kaka had never been a very fast runner. Much like his steel armour, his leather leggings had also been upgraded thrice, and while he had the items necessary to enhance them again, he didn't want to risk them, considering that NPC Blacksmiths had a one in three chance of failure. He now had an iron buckler that made the shield that Raynor had made a month earlier out of mud crab carapaces look like a barrel lid in comparison. His weapon, though, was his pride and joy. Having collected twelve wolf fangs during his time grinding in the nearby forests he had been able to get a blacksmith to create Wolfsbane, and while it wasn't the most powerful weapon to be found on the floor, the sword did prove to others that he was dedicated to his cause. Overall, he was clearly one of the more well positioned players in comparison to the majority of the players within the game.

Kaka took this moment to analyse just what kind of armour Taylor had on him. It didn't look anything special, but he could tell that it was light, and that gave Taylor a definitive speed advantage over him. The design of the armour was reminiscent of what he had seen in old Japanese films where samurai were involved, iron plates held together by chain, giving Taylor strong defence while at the same time allowing him a lot of movement. While the base colour of Taylor's armour was a light shade of blue there were several red lines creating an intricate design, showing that his opponent would be holding onto this armour for some time yet. That wasn't his only defence, however, as he wore a brown cloak that Kaka recognised as the rare item that the alpha of wolf mobs would drop. He had seen a handful of people wearing them, and while he knew where they came from, he wasn't quite sure what kind of advantages it would give. Comparing his armour to Taylor's it was clear that his had more durability but was behind in terms of speed.

Being an all-rounder though had its perks, and he knew that he just needed to block Taylor's opening attack with his shield before pouncing in and landing a few critical blows. There was no way he was going to lose this fight. His confidence only grew more as Taylor revealed his weapon. While he had expected some kind of two-handed bladed weapon reminiscent of what he had started with, the only thing which remained was the staff. While it was beautiful in design, there were no sharp edges and looked only good for bludgeoning something. By no means did that suggest that the weapon wasn't dangerous, just not as dangerous as something with a pointy end.

At least in theory.

The countdown slowly trickled down and a crowd seemed to circle around the two, people seemingly wanting to watch the spectacle that was about to be undertaken. Kaka's breathing became heavy, now knowing that he had to do particularly well in order not to be embarrassed in front of so many people.

As the timer hit zero, Kaka burst forward with all the speed he could muster, swinging his sword horizontally at Taylor who was watching him with calculating eyes. As expected, Taylor used his staff to negate the incoming attack, but left himself open as Kaka tried to use his round shield as a weapon in its own right. Shuffling two steps back, Taylor avoided the makeshift weapon and quickly went to work on attacking Kaka's unprotected legs, hitting him once in the calf and twice in the thigh before leaping backwards in order to avoid the slash that Kaka had sent his way.

'_Alright, new plan,'_ thought Kaka as he began circling Taylor, watching as the staff-wielder showed off his skill with the weapon by twirling it between his hands around his body, entertaining the crowd as he did so. It also succeeded in ticking Kaka off. '_Cheeky bastard.'_

Throwing caution to the wind, Kaka edged forward slowly, his shield raised high in order to protect his head from any wide attacks. Taylor's twirling slowed down slightly as his eyes sharpened, before he sprang forward and swung his staff down vertically, aiming for the top of Kaka's head. Lifting his forearm, Kaka bounced the staff away harmlessly, but became disorientated as Taylor used the change in momentum and allowed the weapon to become completely horizontal before thrusting it forward and bopping Kaka square in the forehead.

The crowd cheered as Kaka retaliated, the spectacle a welcome piece of entertainment that even had some people betting with one another over who would come out victorious. One person, however, had seen enough and marched forward into the battle circle with one goal on his mind.

…

Ino sighed as she brushed off the call to arms message. She had no intention of jumping hail mary into a death trap like that. Sure she'd gotten stronger and faster, but she had no death wish. For the last month she had secluded herself and locked herself off from the rest of the virtual world. She felt heavy, even weeks after Zi had mysteriously lost his life, she still felt the pain.

She readjusted her hold on the lithe blade in her hand, gripping it sideways for a one-handed forward thrust as she launched a melee attack on the nepent in front of her. She brought her arm to her side and again switched her hold on her blade. The white bone handle glinted in the digital rays the faux sun cast.

Her new blade was longer than her old one, its metal was black with gold Japanese symbols emblazoned along it. It had been a drop she had barely survived long enough to acquire. This particular kodachi could perform select katana skills, which had come in handy.

She had made some changes in the last month, she mentally noted as she turned back toward her destination. Her light-brown hair was now tied back into pigtails, and she wore a thick, hooded black cloak that fell to her ankles, as well as some light metal armor, a long-sleeved navy-blue turtleneck, tight black leggings, and combat style boots.

After a full month of pain, mental sickness, and suffering, Ino had finally decided.

"I have to know," she mumbled to the air. "I have to know what happened…" Her finger accessed her inventory and she admired the peculiar item that Zi had dropped. His sunglasses, for some odd reason, had been left behind.

When a pang of grief had her flinching away, she turned her eyes to her stats. She was now level thirteen, soon to be fourteen. All of her sorrow had not held her back. The fear of her own death was enough to have her stumbling through this wretched existence, even if she did feel like a machine.

With her cynical thoughts echoing through her avatar's head, she sheathed her blade and shook herself before she found out how realistic panic attacks were in this world.

The trek back to the town was uneventful, but it was gorgeous. Details, in this world, were amazingly precise and realistic. There was wind that blew and caressed the bright leaves and stirred the loose bits of clothing and hair. There was sound that alerted characters to cracking twigs and even heartbeats, and if you were close enough, there was feeling, be it pain or simply the feel of your weapon in your hand. All of it made this hellhole somehow beautiful.

As she entered the gate to the City of Beginnings, she gazed along the familiar streets. There weren't as many people crowded into the city; a good many were probably off grinding or had gone of to join the boss raid. She hated to consider the thought that perhaps that many people had died…

It took her a while to track down what she was looking for, but a surge of mixed emotions nearly floored her as she found it.

The memorial.

The one thing that could tell her what had happened to her friend.

Ino approached the piece with trepidation, unsure whether she really wanted to know. But, in her heart, she knew that going any longer without knowing would drive her insane. It had happened in the real world with the death of her beloved uncle, and it could just as easily happen here as well.

Her deep green eyes scanned through the names, trying to remain indifferent at the ungodly amount of suicides and-

'_Zi-Dawg: NervGear disconnect.' _

"He was… unplugged…" Anger seeped through her being as she mentally berated herself for being so ignorant and stupid that she hadn't guessed as much. Perhaps she had wanted a more... honorable death for him…

As if death any death in this world could be seen as honorable.

With a heavy heart, she readjusted her hood to cover her tear-stained face and turned with a flourish of her cloak.

She would be too late to join the boss raid, but she'd sure as hell be there for their return. It was about time she joined another party, and the returning group would be, she hoped, a good place to look.

…

Raynor had seen enough. He had been happy enough to watch the duel from afar while it was still fair, yet the difference in the fighter's skill level was just an inkling too much. There was no point to this duel; all Taylor was managing to do was rile up and annoy Kaka while stroking his own ego and showing off to the crowd at the same time. Unslinging the heater shield that he had across his back, Raynor strolled over to the edge of the circle where his two friends were fighting it out. Taylor had just managed to force his way through Kaka's guard and planted the end of his staff square into his forehead. A dazed Kaka retaliated by swinging his blade at Taylor to only hit thin air as his higher level opponent simply backflipped away from it, this time to rapturous applause from the audience that had gathered.

Raising his shield Raynor bent his legs slightly and burst into a powerful sprint, crashing into Taylor just as he was slightly off balance from his backflip, causing the tall youth to fall down in a heap.

"The fuck man! What was that for?" shouted Taylor, rubbing his shoulder where Raynor had slammed into him. Some of the younger members of the crowd shocked at Taylor's appalling language but he couldn't care less at the moment.

"Sorry, can I cut in and have this dance?" smirked Raynor, ignoring Taylor's protest.

Breathless and still dizzy, Kaka looked confused at what he had just seen. Though his vision had been fading in and out, it looked like Raynor had clattered straight into Taylor without a single thought. Breathing in deeply, Kaka tried to regain some consciousness from the blow to the head he had been given.

"Now, if you aren't still too dazed, let me give you a few tips about fighting with that shield of yours," said Raynor, dropping into a defensive stance.

Unlike Taylor, Raynor's armour did not seem intricate or practical in the least. He had done away with any sort of undershirt and left any skin not covered by armour exposed, even where there was armour seemed an unthought choice. Raynor's torso had been covered with heavy steel plate, yet his legs and upper arms had been left completely exposed, only choosing to cover his forearms and calves in cheap iron armour. All of his gear seemed handmade and had been battered to within an inch of its life, the dents made ever present with the sun gleaming down upon it. In comparison, however, the shield he wielded was in the other end of the spectrum completely, instead of a light and wield-able buckler, Raynor had chosen a heavy heater shield which covered any part of his body not clad in armour. Unlike the cobbled-together armour he wore, the shield was pristine, the gleaming steel catching the light and dazzling Kaka with its glow.

Within the time it had taken Kaka to squint, Raynor was on him, but he wasn't attacking with his hammer; that was still slung on his belt. Raynor had charged in head first with his shield, catching Kaka off guard as he just managed to raise his own shield to soak up the force of Raynor's collision with him. The force of the impact managed to jar Kaka's shoulder as spikes of pain shot through the joint, and Raynor, yet again, attacked, this time swinging the edge of the shield at Kaka. Kaka managed to step back just in time for the bottom of the shield to graze his cheek and knock his head sidewards.

Sick of being set upon, Kaka swung his own shield back at Raynor and instantly regretted it as his injured shoulder protested with the exertion. However instead of moving back, Raynor crouched down and raised his shield to meet Kaka's, deflecting the blow with ease. Kaka decided that his only option now was to use his sword to attack Raynor, as his shoulder was useless until he could get healed. Raising the blade, Kaka laid down blow upon blow onto Raynor's shield, each blow being easily deflected by Raynor. Kaka continued tirelessly hacking at the upraised shield, growing more and more infuriated with each deflected hit and with himself at his inability to penetrate Raynor's defence. He had just began to lose hope until he saw what he thought was an illusion

Raynor had lowered his shield and stood upright, allowing Kaka to strike him across the chest, ending the duel. Sweating and exhausted Kaka could only question Raynor's motive.

"Why? You could have creamed me, dropped me into the dirt and you didn't. Why?" asked Kaka, still confused as to why Raynor had allowed his defeat.

"That's no way to learn to fight. That's how you break someone's spirit, and in this place, it's all we got," replied Raynor, slinging his shield across his back.

"But how come you didn't win the duel? You tagged me with your shield, that should have given you the victory!" exclaimed Kaka, still trying to process what had just happened.

"Shields aren't classed as an offensive weapon in SAO, so if I attacked you with my shield in a duel as I just did, the system wouldn't recognise it as an offensive hit and therefore wouldn't give me a victory," said Raynor.

"Then how are you giving me tips to fight with shie..." said Kaka but immediately stopped as the gears began to turn in his head. "Just because it isn't classed as an offensive weapon, doesn't mean it can't be used like one!" exclaimed Kaka as the epiphany hit him.

"Thus ends the lesson," said Raynor as he walked toward Taylor who had recovered from his unexpected hit.

"I expected better," scowled Raynor as he trudged back towards Kellum with a face like thunder.

"So did I," said Taylor. "From all of us."

Raynor paused midstep, albeit briefly, as he allowed Taylor's few words to sink in before returning to Kellum's side. "Everything alright?" asked the younger boy.

"We're going hunting," said Raynor, not bothering to answer Kellum's question.

…

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